Experimental Investigation of Segregation of Granular Materials using the Vibrational Phenomenon

Abstract

Many industrial processes including food, mining, material and pharmaceuticals involve the handling of granular materials. The
tendency of granular materials to segregate due to variation of certain parameters as well as differences in particle properties
such as size, density, shape negatively affect the process efficiency and product quality. In this study, the segregation phenomena
of different large particles in a granular bed were studied experimentally in a Perspex box that was vibrated vertically. In particular, the effect of frequency, bed depth, particle size and density were investigated. The result showed that the segregation
at relatively constant acceleration was found to decrease within the frequency range 20 Hz-40 Hz. On the other hand, the
segregation then increases with increasing frequency. Furthermore, within the same frequency range, segregation was observed
to further decrease with increasing acceleration, and then gradually starts decreasing exponentially with frequency. In addition,
the segregation rate was higher at a greater bed depth for all vibratory conditions. The segregation trend was found to increase
with the size of the particles for all vibratory conditions. Nonetheless, for all vibratory conditions, the segregation rate was lower
for intruder particles with higher density