Resuspension due to vertical oscillations: experiments and numerical modeling

VALENZUELA-ARACENA, KARINA; OGER, LUC; UÑAC, RODOLFO O.; VIDALES, ANA M.

Granular Matter

springer

Año: 2019 vol. 21

1434-5021

Granular matter is present everywhere in our practical lives. In particular, the movement initiation due to an external excitation,like vibration, is responsible of the detachment of particles that can then be put in an air stream or be part of a pollutionprocess with undesirable consequences. In those scenarios, the knowledge of the mechanisms for the initiation of particlemovement is crucial to predict the removal probabilities. This paper focuses on the onset of the movement of particles placedon a horizontal surface subjected to a vertical sinusoidal mechanical vibration. The problem is tracked both experimentallyand by DEM simulations. Millimeter glass and plastic spheres with a given size are deposited on a rough surface built withglued glass beads with different packing fractions (coverage). The critical values for the amplitude and the frequency of thevibration needed to start the movement of at least half of the particles on the surface are studied as a function of the propertiesof the mobile particles and the surface coverage. The results from experiments and simulations are in good agreement.They show that the size of the mobile particle plays the main role in the present problem. Second in relevance are the sizeratio between the glued and the mobile particles and the coverage degree of the surface. Finally, the density of the materialplays a minor role inside the range of values studied here.