This Faraday Partnership research project aims to model the movement and orientation of a monolayer of grain flowing down an inclined chute. The effects of chute shape and surface roughness will be explored by developing models on a range of scales from discrete grain dynamics to a continuum model for the grain monolayer and its interaction with the adjacent thin layer of air. Chute re-design resulting in significant increases in grain throughput would bring immediate gain in food sorting machine capacity.

Project staff and support

Andrew Ellis (Postgraduate Faraday Associate, UCL)
Frank Smith (Academic supervisor, UCL)
Mark Honeywood (Industrial supervisor, Sortex)
Tim Boxer (Technology Translator, Smith Institute)

This project is being carried out at University College London, in conjunction with Sortex Ltd. It is supported by an EPSRC industrial CASE award, through the Faraday Partnership for Industrial Mathematics. Start date: October 2003; duration: 3 years.

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