Anomalous Diffusion in a Bench-Scale Pulsed Fluidized Bed

Abstract: We present our analysis on micro-rheology of a bench-scale pulsed fluidized bed, which represents a weakly confined system. Non-linear gas-particle and particle-particle interactions resulting from pulsed flow are associated with harmonic and sub-harmonic modes. While periodic structured bubble patterns are observed at the meso-scale, particle-scale measurements reveal anomolous diffusion in the driven granular medium. We use single-particle tracks to analyze ergodicity and ageing properties at two pulsing frequencies having remarkably different meso-scale features. The scaling of ensemble-averaged mean squared displacement is not unique. The distribution of time-averaged mean squared displacements is non-Gaussian, asymmetric and has a finite trivial contribution from particles in crowded quasi-static surroundings. Results indicate weak ergodicity breaking which along with ageing characterize the non-stationary and out-of-equilibrium dynamics.