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Comment on "Mechanical analog of temperature for the description of force distribution in static granular packings"

Philip Metzger
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Abstract

It has been proposed by Ngan [Phys. Rev. E 68, 011301 (2003)] that the granular contact force distribution may be analytically derived by minimizing the analog of a thermodynamic free energy, in this case consisting of the total potential energy stored in the compressed contacts minus a particular form of entropy weighted by a parameter. The parameter is identified as a mechanical temperature. I argue that the particular form of entropy cannot be correct and as a result the proposed method produces increasingly errant results for increasing grain rigidity. This trend is evidenced in Ngan's published results and in other numerical simulations and experiments.

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Philip Metzger. 2004-07-27. Comment on "Mechanical analog of temperature for the description of force distribution in static granular packings". https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.69.053301

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