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 studying how the potential elastic energy is divided among the different contacts between grains. It is found with DEM simulations with spheres that the elastic potential energy distribution follows a Bose Einstein law from which the force distribution is deduced. The present letter open a way in which granular materials can be studied with the tools provided by statistical mechanics.
Compared to agile legged animals, wheeled and tracked vehicles often suffer large performance loss on granular surfaces like sand and gravel. Understanding the mechanics of legged locomotion on granular media can aid the development of legged robots with improved mobility on granular surfaces; however, no general force model yet exists for granular media to predict ground reaction forces during complex limb intrusions. Inspired by a recent study of sand-swimming, we develop a resistive force model in the vertical plane for legged locomotion on granular media. We divide an intruder of complex morphology and kinematics, e.g., a bio-inspired robot L-leg rotated through uniform granular media (loosely packed ~ 1 mm diameter poppy seeds), into small segments, and measure stresses as a function of depth, orientation, and direction of motion using a model leg segment. Summation of segmental forces over the intruder predicts the net forces on both an L-leg and a reversed L-leg rotated through granular media with better accuracy than using simple one-dimensional penetration and drag force models. A multi-body dynamic simulation using the resistive force model predicts the speeds of a small legged robot (15 cm, 150 g) moving on granular media using both L-legs and reversed L-legs.
We report on systematic measurements of the distribution of normal forces exerted by granular material under uniaxial compression onto the interior surfaces of a confining vessel. Our experiments on three-dimensional, random packings of monodisperse glass beads show that this distribution is nearly uniform for forces below the mean force and decays exponentially for forces greater than the mean. The shape of the distribution and the value of the exponential decay constant are unaffected by changes in the system preparation history or in the boundary conditions. An empirical functional form for the distribution is proposed that provides an excellent fit over the whole force range measured and is also consistent with recent computer simulation data.
We show that near a second order phase transition in a two-component elastic medium of size L in two dimensions, where the local elastic deformation-order parameter couplings can break the inversion symmetry of the order parameter, the elastic modulii diverges with the variance of the local displacement fluctuations scaling as $[ln(L/a_0)]^{2/3}$ and the local displacement correlation function scaling as $[ln(r/a_0)]^{2/3}$ for weak inversion-asymmetryThe elastic constants can also vanish for system size exceeding a non-universal value, making the system unstable for strong asymmetry, where a 0 is a small-scale cut-off. We show that the elastic deformation-order parameter couplings can make the phase transition first order, when the elastic modulii do not diverge, but shows a jump proportional to the jump in the order parameter, across the transition temperature. For a bulk system, the elastic stiffness does not diverge for weak asymmetry, but can vanish across a second order transition giving instability for strong asymmetry, or displays jumps across a first order transition. In-vitro experiments on binary fluids embedded in a polymerized network, magnetic colloidal crystals or magnetic crystals could test these predictions.
Granular fluids consist of collections of activated mesoscopic or macroscopic particles (e.g., powders or grains) whose flows often appear similar to those of normal fluids. To explore the qualitative and quantitative description of these flows an idealized model for such fluids, a system of smooth inelastic hard spheres, is considered. The single feature distinguishing granular and normal fluids being explored in this way is the inelasticity of collisions. The dominant differences observed in real granular fluids are indeed captured by this feature. Following a brief introductory description of real granular fluids and motivation for the idealized model, the elements of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics are recalled (observables, states, and their dynamics). Peculiarities of the hard sphere interactions are developed in detail. The exact microscopic balance equations for the number, energy, and momentum densities are derived and their averages described as the origin for a possible macroscopic continuum mechanics description. This formally exact analysis leads to closed, macroscopic hydrodynamic equations through the notion of a normal state. This concept is introduced and the Navier-Stokes constitutive equations are derived, with associated Green-Kubo expressions for the transport coefficients. A parallel description of granular gases is described in the context of kinetic theory, and the Boltzmann limit is identified critically. The construction of the normal solution to the kinetic equation is outlined, and Navier-Stokes order hydrodynamic equations are re-derived for a low density granular gas.
We propose a transform method from a force curve obtained by a surface force apparatus (SFA) to a density distribution of a liquid on a surface of the SFA probe. (We emphasize that the transform method is a theory for the experiment.) In the method, two-body potential between the SFA probe and the solvent sphere is modeled as the soft attractive potential with rigid wall. The model potential is more realistic compared with the rigid potential applied in our earlier work. The introduction of the model potential is the improved point of the present transform method. The transform method is derived based on the statistical mechanics of a simple liquid where the simple liquid is an ensemble of small spheres. To derive the transform method, Kirkwood superposition approximation is used. It is found that the transformation can be done by a sequential computation. It is considered that the solvation structure can be obtained more precisely by using the improved transform method.