The objective of this contract was to develop a system capable of non-intrusively tracking the motion of an individual particle for the study of granular flows down inclined chutes. The result of the project is a system capable of following the three-dimensional translational and rotational motion of an individual particle embedded with a flowing granular material. The basic system consists of a sphere embedded with three orthogonal transmitters emitting at different frequencies which induce voltages in an antenna array surrounding the flow regime. Analysis of the induced voltage signals within the framework of a derived model yields both the position and orientation of the sphere. Tests were performed in a small scale model chute as well as in a cylindrical vibrated granular bed, which clearly demonstrates the capability of the system. As a result of discussions at meetings held semi-annually for the Granular Flow Advanced Research Objectives (GFARO) contractors, it was deemed necessary to pursue an additional experimental program as part of this contract related to the measurement of sphere collision properties. The outcome of the work (reported in Appendix C) is the determination of certain properties which are needed for use in computer simulations and theory.
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