In this paper, wall-driven convective motion in granular systems under vibration is investigated. A pseudo-2D experimental set-Lip was constructed in which the convection was generated via a controlled toughness at the side walls. The optical measurement technique particle image velocimetry was used to obtain whole field particle velocity information. This allows for direct 'one-to-one' comparison with results obtained from numerical simulations. It was found that the model was capable of reproducing trends that were observed ill our own experiments and those reported in literature. However, the convection strength was usually over-predicted in the Simulation. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.