Particle segregation in monodisperse sheared suspensions

It has been known for a long time that many mixtures of granular materials tend to segregate when tumbled in a rotating horizontal cylinder, with the different components separating into bands of relatively pure single concentration along the rotational axis [Mixing of Solids, Advances in Chemical Eng., edited by T. B. Drew and J. W. Hoopes (Academic Press, New York, 1952), Vol. 2, p. 211]. Here we report a phenomenon that seems to be analogous, but in suspensions of monodisperse neutrally buoyant spherical particles in a Newtonian liquid medium being sheared in a partially filled horizontal Couette device in which the suspension separates itself into alternating regions of high and low particle concentration along the length of the tube. The experiment is mostly qualitative, the aim at this stage being primarily to provide photographic evidence of a curious and as yet unexplained phenomenon. copyright 1999 American Institute of Physics