Non-spherical grains have been progressively receiving attention from the research communities and industry due to their natural occurrence and relevance in engineered applications. These grains display complex behaviors that are associated with different applications such as agriculture and the pharmaceutical industries. However, they also pose significant challenges such as jamming when passing through constricted pathways. Most existing studies on granular materials have focused on spherical grains, emphasizing grain size rather than shape and orientation, particularly in relation to grain boundary interactions. Studies have shown that the mechanical properties of non-spherical grains are significantly influenced by their alignment. This has been demonstrated through various simulations and experimental investigations.

This study investigates the orientation behavior of non-spherical grains in response to oscillating boundaries using the Discrete Element Method (DEM). The results reveal that boundary excitation plays a pivotal role in influencing grain alignment, offering new insights into how excitation drives grain alignment. It is observed that as the boundary excitation increases the degree of alignment decreases, indicating a strong dependence of orientation behavior on excitation parameters such as frequency. Additionally, the variations in grain shape is found to significantly influence the alignment.