Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T16:36:25.557Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

On Probabilistic Distribution of Forces in Granular Materials: A Statistical Mechanics Approach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2011

Alfonso H.W. Ngan
Alfonso H.W. Ngan*
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, PR., CHINA.
Get access

Abstract

The contact force distribution in stressed grain piles under simple compaction or gravity has been studied intensively in recent years. In the present investigation, by performing discrete element simulations, it is found that the contact force distribution in a stressed granular packing can be described by a generalized form the Second Law of Thermodynamics involving minimization of a free energy functional containing an energy and an entropy component. The relative importance of energy and entropy is controlled by a parameter known as the “mechanical temperature”.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 759: Symposium MM – Granular Material-Based Technologies , 2002 , MM2.2
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Liu, C.H. et al, Science, 269, 513 (1995).Google Scholar
2. Radjai, F. et al, Phys. Rev. Lett., 77, 274 (1996).Google Scholar
3. Mueth, D.M., Jaeger, H.M. and Nagel, S.R., Phys. Rev. E, 57, 3164 (1998).Google Scholar
4. Bagi, K., in “Powders and Grains 97”, ed. Behringer, R.P. and Jenkins, J.T., (A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, Netherlands), p. 251 (1997).Google Scholar
5. Evesque, P., in “Powders and Grains 2001”, ed. Kishino, Y., (A.A. Balkema, Lisse, Netherlands), p. 153 (2001).Google Scholar
6. Makse, N.A., Johnson, D.L. and Schwartz, L.M., Phys. Rev. Lett., 84, 4160 (2000).Google Scholar
7. Nguyen, M.L. and Coppersmith, S.N., Phys. Rev. E, 62, 5248 (2000).Google Scholar
8. O'Hern, C.S. et al, Phys. Rev. Lett., 86, 111 (2001).Google Scholar
9. Coppersmith, S.N. et al, Phys. Rev. E., 53, 4673 (1996).Google Scholar
10. Socolar, J.E.S., Phys. Rev. E, 57, 3204 (1998).Google Scholar
11. Claudin, P. et al, Phys. Rev. E, 57, 4441 (1998).Google Scholar
12. Narayan, O., Phys. Rev. E, 63, 010301(R) (2000).Google Scholar
13. Edwards, S.Fh., in “Granular Matter – An Interdisciplinary Approach”, ed. Mehta, A., (Springer-Verlag: New York), (1994), Chp. 4.Google Scholar
14. Johnson, K.L., “Contact Mechanics”, Cambridge University Press, (1985), p. 101.Google Scholar
15. Moukarzel, C.F., in “Rigidity Theory and Applications”, ed. Thorpe, M.F. and Duxbury, P.M., (Kluwer Academic/Plenum, New York), p. 125 (1999).Google Scholar