Convection roll properties in 3-D vibrofluidized granular systems

CHED 1383

Nicholas Petkovich, petkovichn@duq.edu and Julian Talbot, talbot@duq.edu. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Duquesne University, 600 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15282
We examine systems of vibrofluidized granular particles using event-driven (molecular dynamics) simulation. Our model consists of N inelastic hard spheres contained in an open, vertical cylinder of radius R in a gravitational field. Power is injected by a vibrating base and energy is dissipated by particle-particle and particle-container collisions. For values of the coefficients of restitution corresponding to those observed in experimental studies, a convection roll appears in a monodisperse system. By analyzing the velocity fields computed during the course of the simulations, we have studied the strength and location of the convection roll as a function of N and R. We have also examined convection, packing fraction and granular temperature profiles in a polydisperse mixture with a gaussian size distribution.