Abstract
Granular materials1–5 segregate according to grain size when exposed to periodic perturbations such as vibrations6–12. Moreover, mixtures of grains of different sizes can also spontaneously segregate in the absence of external perturbations: when such a mixture is simply poured onto a pile, the large grains are more likely to be found near the base, while the small grains are more likely to be near the top13–20. Here we report another size-separation effect, which arises when we pour a granular mixture between two vertical plates: the mixture spontaneously stratifies into alternating layers of small and large grains whenever the large grains have larger angle of repose than the small grains. We find only spontaneous segregation, without stratification, when the large grains have smaller angle of repose than the small grains. The stratification is related to the occurrence of avalanches: during each avalanche, the grains separate into a pair of static layers, with the small grains forming a sublayer underneath the layer of large grains.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bagnold, R. A. The Physics of Blown Sand and Desert Dunes (Chapman & Hall, London, 1941).
Jaeger, H. M. & Nagel, S. R. Physics of the granular state. Science 255, 1523–1531 (1992).
Herrmann, H. J. in Disorder and Granular Media (eds Bideaux, D. & Hansen, A.) 305–320 (North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1993).
Edwards, S. F. in Granular Matter: An Interdisciplinary Approach (ed. Mehta, A.) 121–140 (Springer, New York, 1994).
Wolf, D. E. in Computational Physics: Selected Methods, Simple Exercises, Serious Applications (eds Hoffman, K. H. & Schreiber, M.) 64–95 (Springer, Berlin, 1996).
Williams, J. C. The segregation of particulates materials. A review. Powder Technol. 15, 245–251 (1976).
Rosato, A., Strandburg, K. J., Prinz, F. & Swendsen, R. H. Why the Brazil nuts are on top: size segregation of particulate matter by shaking. Phys. Rev. Lett. 58, 1038–1040 (1987).
Gallas, J. A. C., Herrmann, H. J. & Sokolowski, S. Convection cells in vibrating granular media. Phys. Rev. Lett. 69, 1371–1374 (1992).
Knight, J. B., Jaeger, H. M. & Nagel, S. R. Vibration-induced size separation in granular media: the convection connection. Phys. Rev. Lett. 70, 3728–3731 (1993).
Zik, O., Levine, D., Lipson, S. G., Shtrikman, S. & Stavans, J. Rotationally induced segregation of granular materials. Phys. Rev. Lett. 73, 644–647 (1994).
Clément, E., Rajchenbach, J. & Duran, J. Mixing of a granular material in a bi-dimensional rotating drum. Europhys. Lett. 30, 7–12 (1995).
Cooke, W., Warr, S., Huntley, J. M. & Ball, R. C. Particle size segregation in a two-dimensional bed undergoing vertical vibration. Phys. Rev. E 53, 2812–2822 (1996).
Brown, R. L. The fundamental principles of segregation. J. Inst. Fuel 13, 15–19 (1939).
Bagnold, R. A. Experiments on a gravity-free dispersion of large solid spheres in a Newtonian fluid under shear. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 225, 49–63 (1954).
Drahun, J. A. & Bridgwater, J. The mechanisms of free surface segregation. Powder Technol. 36, 39–53 (1983).
Fayed, M. E. & Otten, L. (eds) Handbook of Powder Science and Technology 428–433 (Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1984).
Savage, S. B. in Developments in Engineering Mechanics (ed. Selvadurai, A. P. S.) 347–363 (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1987).
Savage, S. B. & Lun, C. K. K. Particle size segregation in inclined chute flow of dry cohesionless granular solids. J. Fluid Mech. 189, 311–335 (1988).
Savage, S. B. in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (eds Germain, P., Piau, M. & Caillerie, D.) 241–266 (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1989).
Meakin, P. A simple two-dimensional model for particle segregation. Physica A 163, 733–746 (1990).
Bagnold, R. A. The shearing and dilation of dry sand and the ‘singing’ mechanism. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 295, 219–232 (1966).
Jaeger, H. M., Liu, C.-H. & Nagel, S. R. Relaxation at the angle of repose. Phys. Rev. Lett. 62, 40–43 (1989).
Makse, H. A., Cizeau, P. & Stanley, H. E. Possible stratification mechanism in granular mixtures. Phys. Rev. Lett. (submitted).
Williams, J. C. The segregation of powders and granular materials. Univ. Sheffield Fuel Soc. J. 14, 29–34 (1963).
Williams, J. C. The mixing of dry powders. Powder Technol. 2, 13–20 (1968).
Allen, J. R. L. Sedimentary Structures: their Character and Physical Basis (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1982).
Boutreux, T. & de Gennes, P.-G. Surface flows of granular mixtures: I. General principles and minimal model. J. Phys. I France 6, 1295–1304 (1996).
Bouchaud, J.-P., Cates, M. E., Prakash, J. R. & Edwards, S. F. Hysteresis and metastability in a continuum sandpile model. Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, 1982–1985 (1995).
de Gennes, P.-G. Dynamique superficielle d'un matériau granulaire. C. R. Acad. Sci. 321 [IIb], 501–506 (1995).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Makse, H., Havlin, S., King, P. et al. Spontaneous stratification in granular mixtures. Nature 386, 379–382 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/386379a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/386379a0
This article is cited by
-
Self-replicating segregation patterns in horizontally vibrated binary mixture of granules
Scientific Reports (2024)
-
Memory of fabric anisotropy in the static packing of granular materials
Granular Matter (2023)
-
Wood pellets transport with vibrating conveyor: experimental for DEM simulations analysis
Scientific Reports (2021)
-
Gravity-Driven Monodisperse Avalanches: Inertial- to Frictional-Dominated Flow
Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering (2020)
-
Acoustic Emission from Porous Collapse and Moving Dislocations in Granular Mg-Ho Alloys under Compression and Tension
Scientific Reports (2019)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
