EVENT DETAILS AND ABSTRACT

Title: Stress Structure and Fluctuation in Granular Matter
Speaker: Dr. Daniel Howell
Speaker Info: Argonne National Laboratory
Brief Description:
Special Note:
Abstract:

Granular systems have captured much recent interest because of their rich phenomenology and important applications. They exhibit dynamical states that resemble conventional thermodynamic phases (solid,liquid,gas), but lie outside the realm of equilibrium statistical mechanics. The challenge is to create new kinds of statistical physics and new analytical descriptions for the mean and fluctuating behavior of these materials. I will focus on two experiments used to examine force propagation and fluctuations in static and slowly driven granular systems. Both involve the stress structure; the first explores the stress imposed during construction of static piles, the second probes the fluctuations in this structure, and focuses specifically on a transition with density found in a slowly sheared material.