Experiments and numerical simulation studies were carried. out on vertically vibrated wedge-type hoppers containing binary mixtures for the present research. The studies focussed on segregation analysis of the hopper discharge and the characterization of flow pattern of the binary mixtures in sealed hoppers, over wide ranges of frequency and amplitude of acceleration to determine the effect of these parameters.

The results of segregation study show that vibration promotes segregation of the binary mixtures. However, increase in frequency was found to make the contents of segregated discharge more uniform. Also, increase in wedge angle seemed to help in reducing segregation.

The experimentally observed flow patterns, showed a new type of four-loop convection pattern. The simulation studies revealed some of the experimental observations. Thus, the experimentally observed patterns included three regimes, namely, an unstable heaping state, symmetrical convection pattern, and unstable region with surface waves.