Analogies between granular jamming and the liquid-glass transition

Based on large-scale, three-dimensional chute flow simulations of granular systems, we uncover strong analogies between the jamming of the grains and the liquid-glass transition. The angle of inclination 6 in the former transition appears as an analog of temperature T in the latter. The transition is manifested in the development of a plateau in the contact normal force distribution P(f) at small forces, the splitting of the second peak in the pair-correlation function g(r), and increased fluctuations of the system energy. The static state also exhibits history dependence, akin to the quench-rate dependence of structural properties of glasses, due to the hyperstaticity of the contact network. © 2002 The American Physical Society.