Jamming of frictional particles: a nonequilibrium first-order phase transition.

Abstract

We propose a phase diagram for the shear flow of dry granular particles in two dimensions based on simulations and a phenomenological Landau theory for a nonequilibrium first-order phase transition. Our approach incorporates both frictional as well as frictionless particles. The most important feature of the frictional phase diagram is reentrant flow and a critical jamming point at finite stress. In the frictionless limit the regime of reentrance vanishes and the jamming transition is continuous with a critical point at zero stress. The jamming phase diagrams derived from the model agree with the experiments of Bi et al. [Nature (London) 480, 355 (2011)] and brings together previously conflicting numerical results.