Related papers: Statistical mechanics of granular media: An approa…
In the present letter a method to find a proper expression for the force distribution inside a granular sample in static equilibrium is proposed. The method is based in statistical mechanics and the force distribution is obtained by…
We introduce a deductive statistical mechanics approach for granular materials which is formally built from few realistic physical assumptions. The main finding is an universal behavior for the distribution of the density fluctuations. Such…
These lecture notes cover the statics and glassy dynamics of granular media. Most of the lectures were in fact devoted to `force propagation' models. We discuss the experimental and theoretical motivations for these approaches, and their…
This paper aims to justify the use of statistical mechanics tools in situations where the system is out of equilibrium and jammed. Specifically, we derive a Boltzmann equation for a jammed granular system and show that the Boltzmann's…
Characterizing the degeneracy of local stress states is a central challenge in obtaining the complete statistical mechanics of disordered media. Here, we introduce a minimal force-balance model for isolated granular clusters to probe the…
We discuss recent developments in the formulation of a Statistical Mechanics approach to non thermal systems, such as granular media. We review a few important numerical results on the assessment of Edwards' theory and, in particular, we…
Experiments on isotropic compression of a granular assembly of spheres show that the shear and bulk moduli vary with the confining pressure faster than the 1/3 power law predicted by Hertz-Mindlin effective medium theories (EMT) of contact…
The two most commonly used methods to model the behaviour of granular flows are discrete element and continuum mechanics simulations. These approaches concentrate on the deterministic description of particle or bulk material motion. Unlike…
By detailed Molecular Dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations %of a realistic model we show that granular materials at rest can be described as thermodynamics systems. First we show that granular packs can be characterized by few parameters,…
We consider a Statistical Mechanics approach to granular systems by following the original ideas developed by Edwards. We use the concept of ``inherent states'', defined as the stable configurations in the potential energy landscape,…
We have discovered an invariant distribution for local packing configurations in static granular media. This distribution holds in experiments for packing fractions covering most of the range from random loose packed to random close packed,…
Driven granular media constitute model systems in out-of-equilibrium statistical physics. By assimilating the motions of granular particles to those of atoms, by analogy, one can obtain macroscopic equivalent of phase transitions. Here, we…
Vertical loads acting on the surface of a half-space made of discrete and elastic particles are supported by a network of force chains that changes with the specific realization of the packing. These force chains can be transformed into…
We study the behavior of an assembly of $N$ granular particles contained in two compartments within a simple kinetic approach. The particles belonging to each compartment collide inelastically with each other and are driven by a stochastic…
The physical properties of granular materials have been extensively studied in recent years. So far, however, there exists no theoretical framework which can explain the observations in a unified manner beyond the phenomenological jamming…
The stochastic motion in a nonhomogeneous medium with traps is studied and diffusion properties of that system are discussed. The particle is subjected to a stochastic stimulation obeying a general L\'evy stable statistics and experiences…
We address the problem of the so-called ``granular gases'', i.e. gases of massive particles in rapid movement undergoing inelastic collisions. We introduce a class of models of driven granular gases for which the stationary state is the…
We propose a unified framework to study the turbulent transport problem from the perspective of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics. By combining Krarichnan's turbulence thermalization assumption and Ruelle's recent work on nonequilibrium…
A new first-principles statistical mechanics formulation is proposed to describe slow and dilated granular fluids, where prolonged intergranular contacts vitiate collision theory. The contacts, where all the important physics takes place,…
We consider a random aggregate of identical frictionless elastic spheres that has first been subjected to an isotropic compression and then sheared. We assume that the average strain provides a good description of how stress is built up in…