No abstract

This paper focus on the onset of the movement of particles placed on a horizontal rough surface subjected to a vertical sinusoidal vibration. We track the problem through experiments, theory and numerical simulations. The frequencies needed to put particles in movement decays exponentially with the input amplitude of the oscillations. This behavior is explained through a simple approach where a forced damped harmonic oscillator is used with a spring constant representing all the interactions between the particle and the surface.The numerical results compare well with the experimental ones, proving that the forces included in the numerical calculations are suitable to account for the main aspects of the problem, even though that the complexity of the surface is not fully accounted for.Describing the way in which the frequency varies with amplitude could be relevant when technological applications like, for instance, surface cleaning take place.