Jamming of packings of frictionless particles with and without shear

TL;DR

This study investigates the jamming transition in frictionless particle packings, revealing differences in transition points and rigidity with shear, and introduces a macro-friction coefficient to explain packing fraction disparities.

Contribution

The paper presents a method to analyze jamming with and without shear, highlighting the effects of shear on transition points and rigidity, and proposes a macro-friction coefficient for explanation.

Findings

Shear shifts the jamming transition to higher packing fractions.

Jammed solids under shear are more rigid and anisotropic.

The macro-friction coefficient explains the packing fraction gap.

Abstract

By minimizing the enthalpy of packings of frictionless particles, we obtain jammed solids at desired pressures and hence investigate the jamming transition with and without shear. Typical scaling relations of the jamming transition are recovered in both cases. In contrast to systems without shear, shear-driven jamming transition occurs at a higher packing fraction and the jammed solids are more rigid with an anisotropic force network. Furthermore, by introducing the macro-friction coefficient, we propose an explanation of the packing fraction gap between sheared and non-sheared systems at fixed pressure.