| Issue |
EPJ Web Conf.
Volume 340, 2025
Powders & Grains 2025 – 10th International Conference on Micromechanics on Granular Media
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|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 04014 | |
| Number of page(s) | 4 | |
| Section | Jamming, Rigidity and Shear-Thickening Transitions | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202534004014 | |
| Published online | 01 December 2025 | |
https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202534004014
Contact numbers in packings of frictional cylinders
1 Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
2 National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Tallahassee, Florida, 32310, USA
3 Department of Physics, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306, USA
* e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Published online: 1 December 2025
Abstract
The mechanical stability of a granular system depends on the average number of contacts Z between its particles. For most particle shapes, predicting Z as a function of the average volume fraction ϕ is complicated by the spatial correlations between simultaneously contacting particles. However, in the dilute packings formed by cylinders with large aspect ratios α (length of the cylinder divided by its diameter) the individual contacts can be expected to become uncorrelated. Philipse (Langmuir 12, 1127 (1996)) derived from this idea the Random Contact Model (RCM) which predicts ZRCM = 2αϕ. Here we compare ZRCM with X-ray tomography measurements of Z(α, ϕ) in cylinder packings with α = of 14.1, 21.1, and 28.2. We find the measured Z to be smaller than 0.85 ZRCM. Using a Voronoi tessellation we then analyze Z as a function of ϕ on the level of individual particles where the linear relationship does not hold up.
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2025
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