Force balance in canonical ensembles of static granular packings

Abstract

We investigate the role of local force balance in the transition from a microcanonical ensemble of static granular packings, characterized by an invariant stress, to a canonical ensemble. Packings in two dimensions admit a reciprocal tiling, and a collective effect of force balance is that the area of this tiling is also invariant in a microcanonical ensemble. We present analytical relations between stress, tiling area and tiling area fluctuations, and show that a canonical ensemble can be characterized by an intensive thermodynamic parameter conjugate to one or the other. We test the equivalence of different ensembles through the first canonical simulations of the force network ensemble, a model system.