An invariant distribution in static granular media
Disordered Systems and Neural Networks
2007-09-19 v2 Other Condensed Matter
Abstract
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, for beads packed both in air and in water. Assuming only that there exist elementary cells in which the system volume is subdivided, we derive from statistical mechanics a distribution that is in accord with the observations. This universal distribution function for granular media is analogous to the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution for molecular gasses.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0612063,
title = {An invariant distribution in static granular media},
author = {T. Aste and T. Di Matteo and M. Saadatfar and T. J. Senden and M. Schroter and Harry L. Swinney},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0612063},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
4 pages 3 figures