Convective Motion in a Vibrated Granular Layer

Experimental results are presented for a vertically shaken granular layer. In the range of accelerations explored, the layer develops a convective motion in the form of one or more rolls. The velocity of the grains near the wall has been measured. It grows linearly with the acceleration, then the growing rate slows down. A rescaling with the amplitude of the wall velocity and the height of the granular layer makes all data collapse in a single curve. This can provide insights on the mechanism driving the motion.