Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: When compressed frictional granular media are decompressed, generically a fragile configuration is created at low pressures. Typically this is accompanied by a giant frictional slippage as the fragile state collapses. We show that this instability is understood in terms of a scaling theory with theoretically computable amplitudes and exponents. The amplitude diverges in the thermodynamic limit hinting to the possibility of huge frictional slip events in decompressed granular media. The physics of this slippage is discussed in terms of the probability distribution functions of the tangential and normal forces on the grains which are highly correlated due to the Coulomb condition.
Source: Europhysics Letters (EPL)
Authors: H. G. E. Hentschel, I. Procaccia, S. Roy
Institutions: Weizmann Institute of Science, University of Copenhagen
Language: English
Subfield: Condensed Matter Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funder: Israel Science Foundation
OpenAlex ID: W2805208262