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C. S. O'Hern

Publications and source records attributed to C. S. O'Hern.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Local and global measures of the shear moduli of jammed disk packings

Strain-controlled isotropic compression gives rise to jammed packings of repulsive, frictionless disks with either positive or negative global shear moduli. We carry out computational studies to understand the contributions of the negative shear moduli to the mechanical response of jammed disk packings. We first decompose the ensemble-averaged, global shear modulus as $\langle G\rangle = (1-{\cal F}_-) \langle G_+ \rangle + {\cal F}_- \langle G_-\rangle$, where ${\cal F}_-$ is the fraction of jammed packings with negative shear moduli and $\langle G_+\rangle$ and $\langle G_-\rangle$ are the average values from packings with positive and negative moduli, respectively. We show that $\langle G_+\rangle$ and $\langle|G_-|\rangle$ obey different power-law scaling relations above and below $pN^2 \sim 1$. We then calculate analytically that ${\cal P}(G)$ is a Gamma distribution in the $pN^2 \ll 1$ limit. As $pN^2$ increases, the skewness of ${\cal P}(G)$ decreases and ${\cal P}(G)$ becomes a skew-normal distribution with negative skewness in the $pN^2 \gg 1$ limit. We also partition jammed disk packings into subsystems using Delanunay triangulation of the disk centers to calculate local shear moduli. We show that the local shear moduli defined from groups of adjacent triangles can be negative even when $G > 0$. The spatial correlation function of local shear moduli $C({\vec r})$ displays weak correlations for $pn_{\rm sub}^2 < 10^{-2}$, where $n_{\rm sub}$ is the number of particles within each subsystem. However, $C({\vec r})$ begins to develop long-ranged spatial correlations with four-fold angular symmetry for $pn_{\rm sub}^2 \gtrsim 10^{-2}$.

cond-mat.soft↗

Hopper flows of deformable particles

Numerous experimental and computational studies show that continuous hopper flows of granular materials obey the Beverloo equation that relates the volume flow rate $Q$ and the orifice width $w$: $Q \sim (w/σ_{\rm avg}-k)^β$, where $σ_{\rm avg}$ is the average particle diameter, $kσ_{\rm avg}$ is an offset where $Q\sim 0$, the power-law scaling exponent $β=d-1/2$, and $d$ is the spatial dimension. Recent studies of hopper flows of deformable particles in different background fluids suggest that the particle stiffness and dissipation mechanism can also strongly affect the power-law scaling exponent $β$. We carry out computational studies of hopper flows of deformable particles with both kinetic friction and background fluid dissipation in two and three dimensions. We show that the exponent $β$ varies continuously with the ratio of the viscous drag to the kinetic friction coefficient, $λ=ζ/μ$. $β= d-1/2$ in the $λ\rightarrow 0$ limit and $d-3/2$ in the $λ\rightarrow \infty$ limit, with a midpoint $λ_c$ that depends on the hopper opening angle $θ_w$. We also characterize the spatial structure of the flows and associate changes in spatial structure of the hopper flows to changes in the exponent $β$. The offset $k$ increases with particle stiffness until $k \sim k_{\rm max}$ in the hard-particle limit, where $k_{\rm max} \sim 3.5$ is larger for $λ\rightarrow \infty$ compared to that for $λ\rightarrow 0$. Finally, we show that the simulations of hopper flows of deformable particles in the $λ\rightarrow \infty$ limit recapitulate the experimental results for quasi-2D hopper flows of oil droplets in water.

cond-mat.soft↗

Mechanical response of packings of non-spherical particles: A case study of 2D packings of circulo-lines

We investigate the mechanical response of jammed packings of circulo-lines, interacting via purely repulsive, linear spring forces, as a function of pressure $P$ during athermal, quasistatic isotropic compression. Prior work has shown that the ensemble-averaged shear modulus for jammed disk packings scales as a power-law, $\langle G(P) \rangle \sim P^β$, with $β\sim 0.5$, over a wide range of pressure. For packings of circulo-lines, we also find robust power-law scaling of $\langle G(P)\rangle$ over the same range of pressure for aspect ratios ${\cal R} \gtrsim 1.2$. However, the power-law scaling exponent $β\sim 0.8$-$0.9$ is much larger than that for jammed disk packings. To understand the origin of this behavior, we decompose $\langle G\rangle$ into separate contributions from geometrical families, $G_f$, and from changes in the interparticle contact network, $G_r$, such that $\langle G \rangle = \langle G_f\rangle + \langle G_r \rangle$. We show that the shear modulus for low-pressure geometrical families for jammed packings of circulo-lines can both increase {\it and} decrease with pressure, whereas the shear modulus for low-pressure geometrical families for jammed disk packings only decreases with pressure. For this reason, the geometrical family contribution $\langle G_f \rangle$ is much larger for jammed packings of circulo-lines than for jammed disk packings at finite pressure, causing the increase in the power-law scaling exponent.

cond-mat.soft↗

Contact network changes in ordered and disordered disk packings

We investigate the mechanical response of packings of purely repulsive, frictionless disks to quasistatic deformations. The deformations include simple shear strain at constant packing fraction and at constant pressure, "polydispersity" strain (in which we change the particle size distribution) at constant packing fraction and at constant pressure, and isotropic compression. For each deformation, we show that there are two classes of changes in the interparticle contact networks: jump changes and point changes. Jump changes occur when a contact network becomes mechanically unstable, particles "rearrange", and the potential energy (when the strain is applied at constant packing fraction) or enthalpy (when the strain is applied at constant pressure) and all derivatives are discontinuous. During point changes, a single contact is either added to or removed from the contact network. For repulsive linear spring interactions, second- and higher-order derivatives of the potential energy/enthalpy are discontinuous at a point change, while for Hertzian interactions, third- and higher-order derivatives of the potential energy/enthalpy are discontinuous. We illustrate the importance of point changes by studying the transition from a hexagonal crystal to a disordered crystal induced by applying polydispersity strain. During this transition, the system only undergoes point changes, with no jump changes. We emphasize that one must understand point changes, as well as jump changes, to predict the mechanical properties of jammed packings.

cond-mat.soft↗

Comparison of Shear and Compression Jammed Packings of Frictional Disks

We compare the structural and mechanical properties of mechanically stable (MS) packings of frictional disks in two spatial dimensions (2D) generated with isotropic compression and simple shear protocols from discrete element modeling (DEM) simulations. We find that the average contact number and packing fraction at jamming onset are similar (with relative deviations $< 0.5\%$) for MS packings generated via compression and shear. In contrast, the average stress anisotropy $\langle {\hat Σ}_{xy} \rangle = 0$ for MS packings generated via isotropic compression, whereas $\langle {\hat Σ}_{xy} \rangle >0$ for MS packings generated via simple shear. To investigate the difference in the stress state of MS packings, we develop packing-generation protocols to first unjam the MS packings, remove the frictional contacts, and then rejam them. Using these protocols, we are able to obtain rejammed packings with nearly identical particle positions and stress anisotropy distributions compared to the original jammed packings. However, we find that when we directly compare the original jammed packings and rejammed ones, there are finite stress anisotropy deviations $Δ{\hat Σ}_{xy}$. The deviations are smaller than the stress anisotropy fluctuations obtained by enumerating the force solutions within the null space of the contact networks generated via the DEM simulations. These results emphasize that even though the compression and shear jamming protocols generate packings with the same contact networks, there can be residual differences in the normal and tangential forces at each contact, and thus differences in the stress anisotropy.

cond-mat.soft↗

The response of jammed packings to thermal fluctuations

We focus on the response of mechanically stable (MS) packings of frictionless, bidisperse disks to thermal fluctuations, with the aim of quantifying how nonlinearities affect system properties at finite temperature. Packings of disks with purely repulsive contact interactions possess two main types of nonlinearities, one from the form of the interaction potential and one from the breaking (or forming) of interparticle contacts. To identify the temperature regime at which the contact-breaking nonlinearities begin to contribute, we first calculated the minimum temperatures $T_{cb}$ required to break a single contact in the MS packing for both single and multiple eigenmode perturbations of the $T=0$ MS packing. We then studied deviations in the constant volume specific heat $C_V$ and deviations of the average disk positions $Δr$ from their $T=0$ values in the temperature regime $T_{cb} < T < T_{r}$, where $T_r$ is the temperature beyond which the system samples the basin of a new MS packing. We find that the deviation in the specific heat per particle $Δ{\overline C}_V^0/{\overline C}_V^0$ relative to the zero temperature value ${\overline C}_V^0$ can grow rapidly above $T_{cb}$, however, the deviation $Δ{\overline C}_V^0/{\overline C}_V^0$ decreases as $N^{-1}$ with increasing system size. To characterize the relative strength of contact-breaking versus form nonlinearities, we measured the ratio of the average position deviations $Δr^{ss}/Δr^{ds}$ for single- and double-sided linear and nonlinear spring interactions. We find that $Δr^{ss}/Δr^{ds} > 100$ for linear spring interactions and is independent of system size.

cond-mat.soft↗

Stable small bubble clusters in two-dimensional foams

Key features of the mechanical response of amorphous particulate materials, such as foams, emulsions, and granular media, to applied stress are determined by the frequency and size of particle rearrangements that occur as the system transitions from one mechanically stable state to another. This work describes coordinated experimental and computational studies of bubble rafts, which are quasi-two dimensional systems of bubbles confined to the air-water interface. We focus on small mechanically stable clusters of four, five, six, and seven bubbles with two different sizes with diameter ratio $σ_L/σ_S = 1.4$. Focusing on small bubble clusters, which can be viewed as subsystems of a larger system, allows us to investigate the full ensemble of clusters that form, measure the respective frequencies with which the clusters occur, and determine the form of the bubble-bubble interactions. We emphasize several important results. First, for clusters with N > 5 bubbles, we find using discrete element simulations that short-range attractive interactions between bubbles give rise to a larger ensemble of distinct mechanically stable clusters compared to that generated by long-range attractive interactions. The additional clusters in systems with short-range attractions possess larger gaps between pairs of neighboring bubbles on the periphery of the clusters. The ensemble of bubble clusters observed in experiments is similar to the ensemble of clusters with long-range attractive interactions. We also compare the frequency with which each cluster occurs in simulations and experiments. We find that the cluster frequencies are extremely sensitive to the protocol used to generate them and only weakly correlated to the energy of the clusters.

cond-mat.soft↗

Protocol dependence of the jamming transition

We propose a theoretical framework for predicting the protocol dependence of the jamming transition for frictionless spherical particles that interact via purely repulsive contact forces. We study isostatic jammed disk packings obtained via two protocols: isotropic compression and simple shear. We show that for frictionless systems, all jammed packings can be obtained via either protocol. However, the probability to obtain a particular jammed packing depends on the packing-generation protocol. We predict the average shear strain required to induce jamming in initially unjammed packings from the measured probability to jam at packing fraction $ϕ$ from isotropic compression. We compare our predictions to results from numerical simulations of jamming and find quantitative agreement. We also show that the packing fraction range, over which strain-induced jamming occurs, tends to zero in the large system limit for frictionless packings with overdamped dynamics.

cond-mat.soft↗

Experiments demonstrate that the null space of the rigidity matrix determines grain motion during vibration-induced compaction

Using a previously developed experimental method to reduce friction in mechanically stable packings of disks, we find that frictional packings form tree-like structures of geometrical families that lie on reduced dimensional manifolds in configuration space. Each branch of the tree begins at a point in configuration space with an isostatic number of contacts and spreads out to sequentially higher dimensional manifolds as the number of contacts are reduced. We find that gravitational deposition of disks produces an initially under-coordinated packing stabilized by friction on a high-dimensional manifold. Using short vibration bursts to reduce friction, we compact the system through many stable configurations with increasing contact number and decreasing dimensionality until the system reaches an isostatic frictionless state. We find that this progression can be understood as the system moving through the null-space of the rigidity matrix defined by the interparticle contact network in the direction of the gravitational force. We suggest that this formalism can also be used to explain the evolution of frictional packings under other forcing conditions.

cond-mat.soft↗

On the origin of multi-component bulk metallic glasses: Atomic size mismatches and de-mixing

The critical cooling rate $\mathcal{R}_c$, below which liquids crystallize upon cooling, characterizes the glass-forming ability (GFA) of the system. While pure metals are typically poor glass formers with $\mathcal {R}_c>10^{12}\, {\rm K/s}$, specific multi-component alloys can form bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) even at cooling rates below $\mathcal {R}\sim 1\, {\rm K/s}$. Conventional wisdom asserts that metal alloys with three or more components are better glass formers (with smaller ${\cal R}_c$) than binary alloys. However, there is currently no theoretical framework that provides quantitative predictions for $\mathcal{R}_c$ for multi-component alloys. We perform simulations of ternary hard-sphere systems, which have been shown to be accurate models for the glass-forming ability of BMGs, to understand the roles of geometric frustration and demixing in determining $\mathcal {R}_c$. Specifically, we compress ternary hard sphere mixtures into jammed packings and measure the critical compression rate, below which the system crystallizes, as a function of the diameter ratios $σ_B/σ_A$ and $σ_C/σ_A$ and number fractions $x_A$, $x_B$, and $x_C$. We find two distinct regimes for the GFA in parameter space for ternary hard spheres. When the diameter ratios are close to $1$, such that the largest ($A$) and smallest ($C$) species are well-mixed, the GFA of ternary systems is no better than that of the optimal binary glass former. However, when $σ_C/σ_A \lesssim 0.8$ is below the demixing threshold for binary systems, adding a third component $B$ with $σ_C < σ_B < σ_A$ increases the GFA of the system by preventing demixing of $A$ and $C$. Analysis of the available data from experimental studies indicates that most ternary BMGs are below the binary demixing threshold with $σ_C/σ_A < 0.8$.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

Calculations of the Structure of Basin Volumes for Mechanically Stable Packings

There are a finite number of distinct mechanically stable (MS) packings in model granular systems composed of frictionless spherical grains. For typical packing-generation protocols employed in experimental and numerical studies, the probabilities with which the MS packings occur are highly nonuniform and depend strongly on parameters in the protocol. Despite intense work, it is extremely difficult to predict {\it a priori} the MS packing probabilities, or even which MS packings will be the most versus the least probable. We describe a novel computational method for calculating the MS packing probabilities by directly measuring the volume of the MS packing `basin of attraction', which we define as the collection of initial points in configuration space at {\it zero packing fraction} that map to a given MS packing by following a particular dynamics in the density landscape. We show that there is a small core region with volume $V^c_n$ surrounding each MS packing $n$ in configuration space in which all initial conditions map to a given MS packing. However, we find that the MS packing probabilities are very weakly correlated with core volumes. Instead, MS packing probabilities obtained using initially dilute configurations are determined by complex geometric features of the basin of attraction that are distant from the MS packing.

cond-mat.soft↗

Reversible plasticity in amorphous materials

A fundamental assumption in our understanding of material rheology is that when microscopic deformations are reversible, the material responds elastically to external loads. Plasticity, i.e. dissipative and irreversible macroscopic changes in a material, is assumed to be the consequence of irreversible microscopic events. Here we show direct evidence for reversible plastic events at the microscopic scale in both experiments and simulations of two-dimensional foam. In the simulations, we demonstrate a link between reversible plastic rearrangement events and pathways in the potential energy landscape of the system. These findings represent a fundamental change in our understanding of materials--microscopic reversibility does not necessarily imply elasticity.

cond-mat.soft↗

Reply to "Comment on `Jamming at zero temperature and zero applied stress: The epitome of disorder' "

We answer the questions raised by Donev, Torquato, Stillinger, and Connelly in their "Comment on "Jamming at zero temperature and zero applied stress: The epitome of disorder.' " We emphasize that we follow a fundamentally different approach than they have done to reinterpret random close packing in terms of the "maximally random jammed" framework. We define the "maximally random jammed packing fraction" to be where the largest number of initial states, chosen completely randomly, have relaxed final states at the jamming threshold in the thermodynamic limit. Thus, we focus on an ensemble of states at the jamming threshold, while DTSC are interested in determining the amount of order and degree of jamming for a particular configuration. We also argue that soft-particle systems are as "clean" as those using hard spheres for studying jammed packings and point out the benefits of using soft potentials.

cond-mat.soft↗

Effective Temperatures in Driven Systems: Static vs. Time-Dependent Relations

Using simulations of glassy systems under steady-state shear, we compare effective temperatures obtained from static linear response with those from time-dependent fluctuation-dissipation relations. Although these two definitions are not expected to agree, we show that they yield the same answer over two and a half decades of effective temperature. This suggests that a more complete conceptual framework is necessary for effective temperatures in steady-state driven systems.

cond-mat.soft↗

Jamming at Zero Temperature and Zero Applied Stress: the Epitome of Disorder

We have studied how 2- and 3- dimensional systems made up of particles interacting with finite range, repulsive potentials jam (i.e., develop a yield stress in a disordered state) at zero temperature and applied stress. For each configuration, there is a unique jamming threshold, $ϕ_c$, at which particles can no longer avoid each other and the bulk and shear moduli simultaneously become non-zero. The distribution of $ϕ_c$ values becomes narrower as the system size increases, so that essentially all configurations jam at the same $ϕ$ in the thermodynamic limit. This packing fraction corresponds to the previously measured value for random close-packing. In fact, our results provide a well-defined meaning for "random close-packing" in terms of the fraction of all phase space with inherent structures that jam. The jamming threshold, Point J, occurring at zero temperature and applied stress and at the random close-packing density, has properties reminiscent of an ordinary critical point. As Point J is approached from higher packing fractions, power-law scaling is found for many quantities. Moreover, near Point J, certain quantities no longer self-average, suggesting the existence of a length scale that diverges at J. However, Point J also differs from an ordinary critical point: the scaling exponents do not depend on dimension but do depend on the interparticle potential. Finally, as Point J is approached from high packing fractions, the density of vibrational states develops a large excess of low-frequency modes. All of these results suggest that Point J may control behavior in its vicinity-perhaps even at the glass transition.

cond-mat.soft↗

Random Packings of Frictionless Particles

We study random packings of frictionless particles at T=0. The packing fraction where the pressure becomes nonzero is the same as the jamming threshold, where the static shear modulus becomes nonzero. The distribution of threshold packing fractions narrows and its peak approaches random close-packing as the system size increases. For packing fractions within the peak, there is no self-averaging, leading to exponential decay of the interparticle force distribution.

cond-mat.soft↗

Force distributions near the jamming and glass transitions

We calculate the distribution of interparticle normal forces $P(F)$ near the glass and jamming transitions in model supercooled liquids and foams, respectively. $P(F)$ develops a peak that appears near the glass or jamming transitions, whose height increases with decreasing temperature, decreasing shear stress and increasing packing density. A similar shape of $P(F)$ was observed in experiments on static granular packings. We propose that the appearance of this peak signals the development of a yield stress. The sensitivity of the peak to temperature, shear stress and density lends credence to the recently proposed generalized jamming phase diagram.

cond-mat.soft↗

Structural Properties of the Sliding Columnar Phase in Layered Liquid Crystalline Systems

Under appropriate conditions, mixtures of cationic and neutral lipids and DNA in water condense into complexes in which DNA strands form local 2D smectic lattices intercalated between lipid bilayer membranes in a lamellar stack. These lamellar DNA-cationic-lipid complexes can in principle exhibit a variety of equilibrium phases, including a columnar phase in which parallel DNA strands from a 2D lattice, a nematic lamellar phase in which DNA strands align along a common direction but exhibit no long-range positional order, and a possible new intermediate phase, the sliding columnar (SC) phase, characterized by a vanishing shear modulus for relative displacement of DNA lattices but a nonvanishing modulus for compressing these lattices. We develop a model capable of describing all phases and transitions among them and use it to calculate structural properties of the sliding columnar phase. We calculate displacement and density correlation functions and x-ray scattering intensities in this phase and show, in particular, that density correlations within a layer have an unusual $\exp(- {\rm const.} \ln^2 r)$ dependence on separation r. We investigate the stability of the SC phase with respect to shear couplings leading to the columnar phase and dislocation unbinding leading to the lamellar nematic phase. For models with interactions only between nearest neighbor planes, we conclude that the SC phase is not thermodynamically stable. Correlation functions in the nematic lamellar phase, however, exhibit SC behavior over a range of length scales

cond-mat.soft↗