Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 11, 2026

An Analog Macroscopic Technique for Studying Molecular Hydrodynamic Processes in Dense Gases and Liquids
Published on: December 4, 2017
Unjamming of granular packings due to local perturbations: stability and decay of displacements
M Reza Shaebani1, Tamás Unger, János Kertész
1Department of Theoretical Physics, Budapest University of Technology and Economy, H-1111 Budapest, Hungary.
Abstract:
We study the mechanical response generated by local deformations in jammed packings of rigid disks. Based on discrete element simulations we determine the critical force of the local perturbation that is needed to break the mechanical equilibrium and examine the generated displacement field. Displacements decay as a power law of the distance from the perturbation point. The decay exponent and the critical force exhibit a nontrivial dependence on the friction: Both quantities are nonmonotonic and have a sharp maximum at the friction coefficient 0.1. We find that the mechanical response properties are closely related to the problem of force indeterminate where similar nonmonotonic behavior was observed previously. We establish a direct connection between the critical force and the ensemble of static force networks.
Related Concept Videos
Damped Oscillations
Although friction and other non-conservative...
Types of Damping
Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Relaxation Processes
Stability of Equilibrium Configuration
A stable equilibrium occurs when a system tends to return to its original position when given a small displacement, and the potential energy is at its minimum. An example of a stable equilibrium is when a cantilever beam is fixed at one end and a weight is attached to the other end. If the weight...
Destabilization of Microtubules
Stability of structures
