Pattern Selection by a Granular Wave in a Rotating Drum for which the Angular Frequency Varies Sinusoidally

R.D.P.East August 9, 2013

Contents
1 Introduction 2 Method 3 Results and Analysis 3.1 Linearity between the ratios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.1 Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 Observations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.1 Observations on the linearity between the ratios 3.2.2 Petal splitting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Further Experiments 5 References 1 2 4 4 6 7 7 8 11 13

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Abstract Two types of granular particle were rotated in a shallow drum. This drum was rotated at such a frequency petals formed [1] . The base angular velocity was varied sinusoidally, and the subsequent eect on the petal pattern was observed. A linear relationship between the ratio of the sine wave frequency over the granular wave frequency, and the ratio of the observed number of petals when the sinusoidal variation was applied over the original number. A second relationship was also observed in which there would be multiple petal tips per petal would form when the imposed sine-wave induced a petal number greater than the original. The number of split petals was also linear with the aforementioned ratio between the sine and granular wave frequency.

Chapter 1

Introduction
The recent interest in granular medium has shown that the mixing of dierent granular particles is a complex and dicult problem and furthermore can provide some surprising results. M.M obius et al, demonstrated that smaller particles would interact with a single larger particle by pushing the larger particle to the top of the mix if the system was vibrated [2] . The partitioning of the mixtures of two granular materials was investigated by N. Burtally et al[3] . They demonstrated amongst other things that these particles separated under vertical vibration formed distinct layers. Most relevant for this experiment was the pattern formation caused by two granular materials in a rotating drum demonstrated by Zuriguel et al[1] .This work is directly built on in this experiment, where an almost identical set-up was used with the addition of a waveform generator in order to impose a sinusoidal variation in the angular frequency of the drumb.

Chapter 2

Method
A drum of diameter of 24.5 0.2 cm and depth of 3 0.05 mm was half lled (3%) with two types of granular materials of similar density. The smaller white particles had a diameter of 120 30 m and made up a proportion of the volume equating to a small particle volume fraction of = 0.35 . The larger green grains had a diameter of 710 30 m. The drum was driven by a motor connected to the disk via a belt drive attached to a gearbox in order to attain appropriate rotational speeds (see gure 3.2) . The voltage supplied to the motor was the sum of the steady voltage provided by a control box and that of an arbitrary wave form generator. A camera was also used to document the petal patterns formed.

Figure 2.1: A diagram of the experimental set-up.

Initially a base petal pattern was found at some angular velocity such that it displayed a small number of clear petals . The number of petals in the base patterns considered in this experiment were 5,6,8 and 10. These patterns were formed by the constant angular velocities of 0.139 rads1 , 0.95 rads1 ,0.09 rads1 , and 0.065 rads1 respectively. The initial base pattern was formed using only the steady input voltage from the control box in order to have a control pattern against which to compare the eects of sinusoidal variation in the angular frequency. Once a stable pattern had been formed the time period of the granular wave was found using a stopwatch to time the period of 10 wavelengths (ten petal formations) and from this deriving the its frequency. The reader should note that the granular wave is the mechanism by which patterns are formed in the drum as granular avalanches separate the particles (see Zuriguel for more detail[1] ). The waveform generator was then used to vary the angular velocity of the drum sinusoidally, the rms amplitude of this sine variation was 0.06 rads1 . The frequency of the imposed sine variations were fractions of the granular wave, leading to the use of the ratio ratio where ratio =
sine wave .

Note sine and wave are the frequency of the imposed sine wave and the frequency of the granular wave associated with the base state respectively.

Figure 2.2: An image of the base petal pattern of 10 petals prior to the introduction af any angular frequency variation in the drum.

Chapter 3

Results and Analysis

3.1 Linearity between the ratios

In analysing the pattern formed in varying the imposed sine variations frequency a linear relationship was discovered in the frequency region considered. The relationship was between the ratio of the imposed sine wave frequency over the granular wave frequency in the base state ratio , and the ratio of the observed number of petals over the original number as seen in the base state, nratio . This relationship is represented in gure 3.1. This relationship demonstrates that an imposed sine wave of a frequency that is some fraction of the granular wave results in the formation of that very fraction of the original number of petals in the base state. This is provided that said fraction results in an integer number of petal tips. If this was not the case more complex patterns formed which followed no discernible regimen and as such are not considered here.

3.5

2.5 nratio

1.5

Base petal tip number = 8 linear Base petal tip number =5 Base petal tip number = 10 Base petal tip number = 6

0.5

0.5

1.5

2 ratio

2.5

3.5

Figure 3.1: Plot of nratio against ratio , note the linear t which is described by y=x.

To illustrate this phenomena, consider gure 3.2 where the image furthest left is the base state of the ve petals, and moving right we see the eect of the imposition of sinusoidal variation rotation at frequencies that are fractions of that of the granular wave. It is clear that the ratio ratio directly dictates the number of petals that will form.

Figure 3.2: The base 5 petal pattern with (from left to right): No imposed sine 3 4 frequency; ratio = 1 5 ; ratio = 5 ; ratio = 5 .

3.1.1

Considerations

It should be noted that for the smaller fractions equating to one or two petals, small formations would occur such as those seen in gure 3.3. These however did not occur in patterns with greater number of petals. When considering the number of petals these formations did not contribute to the result previously discussed. The justication for this has been that these formations are not believed to be natural products of the rotations. In the patterns with higher peal number the petals do not come in contact with the edge of the drum; In contrast the conservation of the volume of the particles means patterns of lower petal number which form wider and longer petals would. The petals that reach the drum edge as they form are presumably disrupted hence leading to said formations. Though this explanation does hold well with the patterns observed, in which we see no extra formations when the petals are not of sucient length to reach the drum edge. It would still be advisable to use larger drums in future or alternatively smaller volume fractions.

Figure 3.3: Circled in red are the anomalous formations for the patterns whose base petal number was 5,8,and 10 from left to right. The ratio for each image 2 3 2 are 5 , 8 , and 10 respectively.

3.2
3.2.1

Observations
Observations on the linearity between the ratios

It was noted that the edge of the petal facing in the direction of rotation was more distinct than its other edge. Unfortunately the camera glare makes this dicult to analyse with the current experimental set-up. A second observation was that the greater the number of petals in the base state the slower the petal formation (and the splitting which is mentioned in section 3.2.2). A nal observation is that there was an interesting variation in petal width while the imposed frequency equated to ratio 1 (but was still leading to an integer number of petals).As seen in gure 3.4 there is a subtle dierence in the petal widths. Unfortunately a proper characterisation of this was not obtained during this experiment.

Figure 3.4: The petal pattern for the base petal number of 8 with an imposed 6 frequency ratio ratio equal to 8 . Note the subtle variation in petal widths.

3.2.2

Petal splitting

A second relationship was observed during the the experiment, namely that for imposed ratios ratio > 1 (but again still leading to an integer number of petal tips) the patterns became stable homogeneous and separate for a period before slowly transforming (see gure 3.5) into an entirely dierent pattern. This second pattern presented the same number of petals as in the base pattern on which the sine variation was imposed. That said the number of petal tips was the same as in the patterns pre-transformation. This can be understood as one or more petals would have multiple tips, or had split. This eect was only fully analysed for the ve petal base state, as the results from this seemed to form fastest and clearest. Though all results discussed from here on pertain to the 5 petal base state, every other base number tested showed evidence of splitting. The manner in which the petals split is also of interest.Further observation lead to the conclusion that each petal would split as little as possible viz. all petals would split twice (corresponding to a frequency, , where sine = 2wave ) before any would split to have 3 tips. The number of times any petal split, that is to say a single tip petal became a double, or a double split became a triple and so on, was plotted against ratio . This revealed a linear relationship which can be seen in gure 3.6.It indicates that after the number of petal tips exceeds the base number, every extra induced petal tip is produced via a split. Each split occurs in one of the petals of the pattern of which the number of tips is the minimum for the observed pattern.

Figure 3.5: Here the homogeneous separate petals can be seen on the left, these relate to ratio = 5 3 . On the right is the eventual pattern depicting 5 base petals each with 3 tips. Note there are still 15 induced petal tips but there is a return to a 5 petal pattern.

Figure 3.6: Graph of the number of splits against ratio , the partitions show the manner in which the petals split.

As an example one can consider the region where single split petals, begin to break into three tips (a double split). In gure 3.7 where we see the single split petals formed at ratio = 2 form double splits as the sine frequency is increased to produce an extra tip. Here we clearly see with each increment of the frequency ratio to produce an extra tip, another single tip petal splits to become a double tip petal.

Figure 3.7: For a base state of ve petals we see from right to left where: 11 ratio = 2 and so we ne 10 tips on ve single split petals; ratio = 11 5 ; ratio = 5 12 and as such we have 11 tips formed by 4 single split and 1 double; ratio = 5 and as such we have 12 tips formed by 3 single split and 2 double.

Considerations Though promising, this result only conrms the relationship for a limited range and further analysis must be done in future. The issues to over come are rstly that it becomes problematic attempting to distinguish separate petals and their respective tips as the frequency is increased. Secondly there is an issue with the time over which these patterns form on which they seem to have a non-linear dependence (It is important to note this was not quantied and is only a casual observation). The result of these two issues were that It was not possible to test the petal splitting above ratio=3 , and also it meant that obtaining results at lower sine frequencies was dicult, assuming that they do in fact exist. Specically while it was possible to obtain a pattern for the frequency pertaining to ratio = 9 5, which did produce the expected result of 4 single splits and an un-split petal (4 double tips and a single), frequencies below this did not produce the expected patterns after forming the initial homogeneous petals even after several hours.

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Chapter 4

Further Experiments
Based on the ndings and observations contained herein it seems appropriate to oer an outline for future experiments. The key requirement for further analysis of the number of petals and the tips per petal at higher frequencies must be the computer analysis of the images taken by the camera. It is obvious to an observer at lower petal numbers where the petal tips are split or are separate. This is judged based on the depth of the region with low small particle concentration between petal tips. If large, the next tip is part of a separate petal.If small, it is a tip attached to a petal on which there is at least one other petal tip. This is dicult for the human observer as the petals become more densely packed,but would not be a problem for computer image analysis. Especially when one considers the human observers propensity to seek patterns in images. Furthermore when a human observer in some parts anticipates a certain pattern the likelihood of conrmation bias renders objective computer analysis a must[4] . Secondly computer analysis is then the only reliable way one could hope to quantify the more distinct edges of the petals as mentioned in section 3.2.1 as one would most likely need to set some intensity bound on what one would consider the more distinct edge in order to asses its width perhaps, or other possible properties.

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The obstacle to reliable computer analysis of the images lies in the unsuitable lighting conditions. The sporadic phenomena of camera glare and the reections of the light in the room o of the glass leads to bright patches in photos, these would frustrate attempts to provide reliable analysis. A future experimenter should also look into the dierent widths that were observed in the petals that formed at an imposed sine wave frequency equating to values of ratio=3 below 1 as discussed previously in 3.2.1. It may also be worthwhile to make a study of the time scales over which petal formation varies, be it the time to form the homogeneous separate petals or the split petal state implied by section 3.2.2.

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Chapter 5

References
[1] Zuriguel, I., Gray, J. M. N. T. Peixinho, J. Mullin, T. Pattern selection by a granular wave in a rotating drum. Phys. Rev. E 73 (2006).

[2] N. Burtally, P. J. King, M. R. Swift, Science, 295, 1877 (2002).

[3] Mbius ME, Lauderdale BE, Nagel SR, Jaeger HM (2001) Brazil-nut eect: Size separation of granular particles. Nature 414: 270.

[4] Sternberg, Robert J. (2007), Critical Thinking in Psychology: It really is critical, in Sternberg, Robert J.; Roediger III, Henry L.; Halpern, Diane F., Critical Thinking in Psychology, Cambridge University Press, p. 292

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