Segregation in a Galton Board

J. BENITO, A.M. VIDALES AND I. IPPOLITO

Journal of Physics: Conference Series

Institute of Physics and IOP Publishing Limited

Año: 2009 vol. 166 p. 1 - 9

1742-6588

This work deals with a numerical study of the problem of separation of particleswith different elastic properties. The separation procedure uses a Galton Board which consistin a bidimensional system of obstacles arranged in a tiangular lattice. Disks of equal diametersbut different elastic properties are launched from the top of the device. The Galton Board iscommonly used for mixing particles, but here, we intend to find special conditions under whichone can use it as a segregating device. We introduce a mixture of particles and generate,through simulations, different conditions to favor the segregation process based on the differentelastic coefficients of the particles. We inspect which is the best configuration of size, densityof obstacles and wall separation to favor the separations of particles. Our results prove that theGalton Board can be used as a segregation device under certain conditions.