Experimental investigation of vibration-induced bulk solids transport and segregation. Final technical report, March 28, 1995--September 26, 1996

We report experiments on the rise time T of a single large sphere within a sinusoidally vibrated bed (amplitude a) of uniform particles (diameter d). At fixed acceleration, three distinct behavioral regimes are identified both from visual observations and from the typical increase of T with frequency f. Two convective regimes separated by a critical frequency are found, and for low a and high f, a {open_quotes}non-convective{close_quotes} regime. In the latter, the bed crystallizes and a size dependent rise is evidenced. The relevance of the non-dimensional parameter a/d is shown and a scaling law is deduced which has the form f {proportional_to} d{sup {minus}1/2