Segregation in granular binary mixtures: Thermal diffusion

TL;DR

This paper derives an explicit expression for the thermal diffusion factor in granular binary mixtures, providing a criterion for segregation that accounts for all mixture parameters and aligns with recent experimental findings.

Contribution

It introduces a new explicit formula for the thermal diffusion factor considering strong dissipation and non-equipartition, extending previous models and experimental validation.

Findings

Explicit expression for thermal diffusion factor derived

Criterion for segregation involving all mixture parameters

Consistent with recent experimental results

Abstract

A recent solution of the inelastic Boltzmann equation that applies for strong dissipation and takes into account non-equipartition of energy is used to derive an explicit expression for the thermal diffusion factor. This parameter provides a criterion for segregation that involves all the parameters of the granular binary mixture (composition, masses, sizes, and coefficients of restitution). The present work is consistent with recent experimental results and extends previous results obtained in the intruder limit case.