Edge effect on the power law distribution of granular avalanches

Many punctuated phenomena in nature are claimed [e.g., by the theory of self-organized criticality (SOC)] to be power-law distributed. In our experiments on a three-dimensional pile of long-grained rice, we find that by only changing the boundary condition of the system, we switch from such power-law-distributed avalanche sizes to quasiperiodic system-spanning avalanches. Conversely, by removing ledges the incidence of system-spanning avalanches is significantly reduced. This may offer a perspective on new avalanche prevention schemes. In addition, our findings may help to explain why the archetype of SOC, the sandpile, was found to have power-law-distributed avalanches in some experiments, while in other experiments quasiperiodic system-spanning avalanches were found.