Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Friction, Avalanches And Phase Transitions In Granular Media., Aline Hubard

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

We explore the microscopic interactions and properties of dry granular materials in the plane using experiments and simulations. We use statistics of this microscopic information to better understand and predict the bulk behavior and evolution of granular materials.

In the first part, we study the geometric structure of mechanically stable packings of frictional disks in configuration space. Our experimental setup contains frictional disks confined in a vertical plane and subject to a series of small amplitude vibrations that compact the system by reducing the friction between contacts during each vibration step. We find that the evolution of the packings forms …