We study the geometry of forces in some simple models for granular stackings. The information contained in geometry is complementary to that in the distribution of forces in a single inter-particle contact, which is more widely studied. We present a method which focuses on the fractal nature of the force network and find good evidence of scale invariance. The method enables us to distinguish universality classes characterized by critical exponents. Our approach can be applied to force networks in other athermal jammed systems.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0503426,
title = {Universality Classes for Force Networks in Jammed Matter},
author = {Srdjan Ostojic and Bernard Nienhuis},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0503426},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
4 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, discussion and conclusion updated, to appear in the proceedings of Traffic and Granular Flow 2005