We find that a column of glass beads exhibits a well-defined transition between two phases that differ in their resistance to shear. Pulses of fluidization are used to prepare static states with well-defined particle volume fractions ϕ in the range 0.57-0.63. The resistance to shear is determined by slowly inserting a rod into the column of beads. The transition occurs at ϕ=0.60 for a range of speeds of the rod.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0606459,
title = {Phase transition in a static granular system},
author = {Matthias Schröter and Sibylle Nägle and Charles Radin and Harry L. Swinney},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0606459},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
4 pages, 4 figures. The paper is significantly extended, including new data