Predicting segregation of nonspherical particles

Most natural and industrial flows involve mixtures of nonspherical particle species. A general approach to predicting segregation over the infinite space of all possible particle shapes and sizes seems, at first glance, to be impossible. Surprisingly, we find that for a broad range of binary particle mixtures composed primarily of pairs of disks and rods with different aspect ratios, but also cylinders combined with spheres and cubes, shape plays only a minor role. Instead, the primary driver of segregation is the volume ratio of the two species.