Scaling Properties of Force Networks for Compressed Particulate Systems

Abstract

We consider, computationally and experimentally, the scaling properties of force networks in the systems of circular particles exposed to compression in two spatial dimensions. The simulations consider polydisperse and monodisperse particles, both frictional and frictionless, and in experiments we use monodisperse and bidisperse particles. While for some of the considered systems we observe consistent scaling exponents describing the behavior of the force networks, we find that this behavior is it not universal. In particular, monodisperse frictionless systems that partially crystallize under compression, show scaling properties that are significantly different compared to the other considered systems. The findings of non-universality are confirmed by explicitly computing fractal dimension for the considered systems. The results of physical experiments are consistent with the results obtained in simulations of frictional particles.