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Phys. Rev. E 75, 060302(R) (2007) [4 pages]

Tail of the contact force distribution in static granular materials

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Adrianne R. T. van Eerd1, Wouter G. Ellenbroek2, Martin van Hecke3, Jacco H. Snoeijer4, and Thijs J. H. Vlugt1
1Condensed Matter and Interfaces, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80.000, 3508 TA Utrecht, The Netherlands
2Instituut-Lorentz, Universiteit Leiden, P.O. Box 9506, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
3Kamerlingh Onnes Lab, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9504, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
4School of Mathematics, University of Bristol, University Walk, Bristol BS8 1TW, United Kingdom

Received 20 February 2007; published 29 June 2007

We numerically study the distribution P(f) of contact forces in frictionless bead packs, by averaging over the ensemble of all possible force network configurations. We resort to umbrella sampling to resolve the asymptotic decay of P(f) for large f, and determine P(f) down to values of order 10−45 for ordered and disordered systems in two (2D) and three dimensions (3D). Our findings unambiguously show that, in the ensemble approach, the force distributions decay much faster than exponentially: P(f)∼exp(−cfα), with α≈2.0 for 2D systems, and α≈1.7 for 3D systems.

© 2007 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevE.75.060302
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevE.75.060302
PACS:
45.70.Cc, 05.40.−a, 46.65.+g
 
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