Granular instability in a vibrated U tube

We study experimentally the collective motion of grains inside a U shaped tube undergoing vertical oscillations, and we develop a very simple quantitative model that captures relevant features of the observed behaviour. The height difference between the granular columns grows with time when the system is shaken at sufficiently low frequencies. The system exhibits two types of growth: exponentially divergent (type I) and exponentially saturating (type II), depending on the size of the grains. The type I growth can be quenched by removing the air whereas the type II behavior can occur in the absence of air. There is a good agreement between the model proposed and our experimental results.