Journal
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS
Volume 96, Issue 1, Pages -Publisher
AMER PHYSICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.018002
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I study the structural organization and correlations in very large packings of equally sized spheres, reconstructed in three dimensions with x-ray computed tomography. I show that the geometrical structure can be conveniently studied as a packing of irregular tetrahedra with volume distribution that must decay exponentially with parameters controlled by the conditions of mechanical stability, nonoverlapping, and space filling. I argue that the system's structure can be described as constituted of two phases: (1) an unconstrained phase which freely shares the volume and (2) a constrained phase which assumes configurations accordingly with the geometrical constraints. It results that the granular system exploits heterogeneity maximizing freedom and entropy while constraining mechanical stability.
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