Powder Technology, Vol.373, 357-361, 2020
A first-order segregation phenomenon in fluid-immersed granular systems
A vast majority of widely accepted granular segregation mechanisms are attributed to dynamic phenomena such as percolation, kinetic sieving, convection-induced segregation, condensation, inertia and granular temperature gradients. We distinguish the ballistics of the particles from such dynamic and material properties and show that the former is a dominant mechanism in the segregation of particles sedimented in a container. We first perform granular sedimentation experiments with glass beads in water that exhibit size-segregation of bidisperse grains. We then show through simulations using a simple, first-order model that the ballistics of the particles alone is sufficient to qualitatively predict this segregation. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.