Friction-controlled entropy-stability competition in granular systems

TL;DR

This study investigates how inter-particle friction influences the structural organization of granular systems under cyclic shear, revealing a balance between mechanical stability and entropy that determines cell distributions and system dynamics.

Contribution

It demonstrates that a maximum-entropy approach accurately predicts cell order distributions and clarifies how friction modulates packing and stability in granular materials.

Findings

Exponential cell order distribution matches experimental data.

Friction adjusts mean cell order and packing fraction.

Cells are short-lived, indicating liquid-like behavior.

Abstract

Using cyclic shear to drive a two dimensional granular system, we determine the structural characteristics for different inter-particle friction coefficients. These characteristics are the result of a competition between mechanical stability and entropy, with the latter's effect increasing with friction. We show that a parameter-free maximum-entropy argument alone predicts an exponential cell order distribution, with excellent agreement with the experimental observation. We show that friction only tunes the mean cell order and, consequently, the exponential decay rate and the packing fraction. We further show that cells, which can be very large in such systems, are short-lived, implying that our systems are liquid-like rather than glassy.