Onset of fluidization in vertically shaken granular material

Abstract

When granular material is shaken vertically one observes convection, surface fluidization, spontaneous heap formation and other effects. There is a controversial discussion in literature whether there exists a threshold for the Froude number $\Gamma=A_0\omega_0^2/g$ below which these effects cannot be observed anymore. By means of theoretical analysis and computer simulation we find that there is no such single threshold. Instead we propose a modified criterion which coincides with critical Froude number $\Gamma_c=1$ for small driving frequency $\omega_0$.