Thermal convection and temperature inhomogeneity in a vibrofluidized granular bed: the influence of sidewall dissipation.

Using a vertically vibrated, fully three-dimensional granular system, we investigate the impact of dissipative interactions between the particles in the system and the vertical sidewalls bounding it. We find that sidewall dissipation influences various properties of the bed including, but not limited to, the spatial distribution of granular temperatures, the functional form of velocity distributions, and the strength of convection. Simple, monotonic relationships are observed for all the aforementioned properties, including a striking linear relationship between convection strength and wall dissipation. We conclude that sidewall effects are not limited to the vicinity of the walls themselves, but extend into the bulk of the system and hence must be considered even in relatively wide, three-dimensional systems. We also propose the possibility of using the alteration of sidewall material as a method of "tuning" certain system parameters in situations where changing the bulk properties or driving parameters of a granular system may be undesirable.