The full canonical ensemble of a granular system

S.F. Edwards

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2005, vol. 353, issue C, 114-118

Abstract: There is now ample experimental and computational evidence that a well-defined and reproducible state can be achieved in a granular system under a repeated disturbance; e.g., if subjected to disturbance of amplitude A and frequency ω, a volume V(A,ω) is found which will be returned to if the system is subjected to A′, ω′ and then returned to A, ω. A microcanonical ensemble defines the entropy from volume V, equally the volume function W, just as E equals H in conventional statistical physics. A canonical version exists via a compactivity ∂V/∂S. Granular systems also have a distribution of intergranular forces generated by external forces or gravity. This paper shows that the idea that the configurations are determined by the Gibbsian formula exp(-W(∂S/∂V)) can be extended to the distribution of forces with a microcanonical condition P(external)=(stressesingrains). The canonical ensemble immediately gives the exponential distribution of intergranular forces, found experimentally.

Keywords: Granular configurations; Granular stress; Granular statistical mechanics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:353:y:2005:i:c:p:114-118

DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2005.01.045

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