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Experimental study of density segregation at end walls in a horizontal rotating cylinder saturated with fluid: friction to lubrication transition

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Abstract

What is the effect of interstitial fluid viscosity on granular density segregation in a horizontal rotating cylinder? We conducted experiments in the rolling regime with equal amounts of equal sized high and low density, nearly spherical granular particles saturated with air, water, and water-glycerin mixtures. We held particle density, rotation rate and characteristic length scale constant to highlight differences due purely to the interstitial fluid. Images of the granular flow at an end wall were used to determine radial and axial density segregation rates and patterns. Over a four decade change in viscosity, segregation rates varied by only a factor of two. However, for ratios of lubrication to frictional stresses above one, segregation rates decreased by about 30%, and we observed several notable phenomena in the segregation pattern formation. These were a creeping mode of radial density segregation, a change in shape of the granular bed to kidney shaped from flat, and for cylinders more than half full the typically reported unsheared central portion of the granular bed (often referred to in the literature as a core region) was disrupted by a wavy instability where the rate of disappearance of the core region decreased as the fill level increased.

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Author notes

  1. Shakil Ahmed

    Present address: Division of Petroleum Research, CSIRO, PO Box 1130, Bentley, WA, 6102, Australia

  2. Sam E. John

    Present address: The Bionic Ear Institute, St Vincent’s Hospital, Fitzroy, VIC, 3065, Australia

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Materials Science and Engineering, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), PO Box 56, Highett, VIC, 3190, Australia

    Shakil Ahmed, Sam E. John, Ilija D. Šutalo, Guy Metcalfe & Kurt Liffman

Authors
  1. Shakil Ahmed
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  2. Sam E. John
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  3. Ilija D. Šutalo
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  4. Guy Metcalfe
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  5. Kurt Liffman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Guy Metcalfe.

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Ahmed, S., John, S.E., Šutalo, I.D. et al. Experimental study of density segregation at end walls in a horizontal rotating cylinder saturated with fluid: friction to lubrication transition. Granular Matter 14, 319–332 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10035-012-0335-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10035-012-0335-2

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