A Rayleigh-Bénard convection instability analog in vibrated gas-fluidized granular particles

Soft Matter. 2022 May 4;18(17):3323-3327. doi: 10.1039/d1sm01803e.

Abstract

Granular particles subject to both vertical gas flow and vertical vibration are shown experimentally to exhibit structured convection cells in a densely packed yet fluidized state without gas voids traveling through the particles. Continuum gas-granular simulations reproduce the phenomenon and demonstrate that the convection occurs due to buoyant force arising from a positive vertical gradient in bulk solid density competing with viscous force created by interparticle friction. Simulations further show that convection structures persist in a controllable manner when increasing system width.