Jamming transition in granular systems

Recent simulations have predicted that near jamming for collections of spherical particles, there will be a discontinuous increase in the mean contact number Z at a critical volume fraction phi(c). Above phi(c), Z and the pressure P are predicted to increase as power laws in phi-phi(c). In experimen...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inPhysical review letters Vol. 98; no. 5; p. 058001
Main Authors Majmudar, T S, Sperl, M, Luding, S, Behringer, R P
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 02.02.2007
Online AccessGet more information

Cover

More Information
Summary:Recent simulations have predicted that near jamming for collections of spherical particles, there will be a discontinuous increase in the mean contact number Z at a critical volume fraction phi(c). Above phi(c), Z and the pressure P are predicted to increase as power laws in phi-phi(c). In experiments using photoelastic disks we corroborate a rapid increase in Z at phi(c) and power-law behavior above phi(c) for Z and P. Specifically we find a power-law increase as a function of phi-phi(c) for Z-Z(c) with an exponent beta around 0.5, and for P with an exponent psi around 1.1. These exponents are in good agreement with simulations. We also find reasonable agreement with a recent mean-field theory for frictionless particles.
ISSN:0031-9007
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.058001