The axial segregation behavior of a binary mixture made of spherical and non-spherical particles is studied experimentally and numerically using Discrete Element Methods (DEM). Two different shape approximations are used for modeling cylindrical particles: the equivalent sphere and the multisphere approximation. The coefficients required by DEM are calibrated partly by separate experiments, partly by geometrical considerations. The main objective is to dispose of a simple procedure to characterize the friction coefficients and to evaluate the main changes imposed by shape in an axial segregated rotating tumbler. The simulations match with the experimental observations in the multisphere case, the transient behavior is caught with accuracy with both approximations. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.