letters to nature

flurries in the Martian north polar night. J. Geophys. Res. 106, 23181–23196 (2001). materials, are commonplace in the energy, pharmaceutical, chemi-
9. Pettengill, G. H. & Ford, P. G. Winter clouds over the north Martian polar cap. Geophys. Res. Lett. 27,
609–613 (2001).
cal and food industries, as well as in the environment. Under the
10. Ivanov, A. B. & Muhleman, D. O. Cloud reflection observations: results from the Mars Orbiter Laser influence of gravity, grains organize in static assemblies. Under-
Altimeter. Icarus 154, 190–206 (2001). standing the properties of these granular solids is of practical and
11. Colaprete, A. & Toon, O. B. Carbon dioxide snow storms during the polar night on Mars. J. Geophys. scientific importance. Traditionally, engineers have used elastic
Res. 107, doi:10.1029/2001JE001758 (2002).
12. Colaprete, A., Haberle, R. M. & Toon, O. B. Formation of convective carbon dioxide clouds near the
theory1,2 to describe granular bulk properties at low loads, and
south pole of Mars. J. Geophys. Res. 108, doi:10.1029/2003JE002053 (2003). elasto-plastic models1–3 to describe yield and quasi-static flow.
13. Hinson, D. P., Wilson, R. J., Smith, M. D. & Conrath, B. J. Stationary planetary waves in the Surprisingly, in some experiments the pressure on the floor under
atmosphere of Mars during southern winter. J. Geophys. Res. 108, doi:10.1029/2002JE001949 (2003).
sand piles was found to possess a local minimum under the apex13–14,
14. Hinson, D. P. & Wilson, R. J. Transient eddies in the Southern Hemisphere of Mars. Geophys. Res. Lett.
29, doi:10.1029/2001GL014103 (2002).
whereas isotropic elastic theory (and common sense) would imply
15. Haberle, R. M. et al. General circulation model simulations of the Mars Pathfinder atmospheric that the pressure is maximal there (we note that the presence of this
structure investigation/meteorology data. J. Geophys. Res. 104, 8957–8974 (1999). minimum depends on the method of preparation of the pile15).
16. Colaprete, A. & Toon, O. B. Carbon dioxide clouds in an early dense Martian atmosphere. J. Geophys.
Other experiments7–9 revealed the existence of anisotropic chains of
Res. 108, doi:10.1029/2002JE001967 (2003).
17. Holton, J. R. An Introduction to Dynamic Meteorology 3rd edn (Academic, London, 1992). particle contacts (‘force chains’) along which the contact forces were
18. Hollingsworth, J. L. & Barnes, J. R. Forced, stationary planetary waves in Mars’ winter atmosphere. stronger than average. These and other experiments10–12 were
J. Atmos. Sci. 53, 428–448 (1996). interpreted as evidence against elastic theories of granular matter.
19. Banfield, D., Conrath, B. J., Smith, M. D., Christensen, P. R. & Wilson, R. J. Forced waves in the
Martian atmosphere from MGS TES nadir data. Icarus 161, 319–345 (2003).
Models4–6 in which the forces propagate, like waves, along force
20. Jakosky, B. M. & Haberle, R. M. Year-to-year instability of the Mars south polar cap. J. Geophys. Res. chains, were proposed and some of their predictions were found to
95, 1359–1365 (1990). be in good agreement with experiment. The basic equations in these
21. Malin, M. C., Caplinger, M. A. & Davis, S. D. Observational evidence for an active surface reservoir of theories are hyperbolic, in contrast with the elliptic nature of static
solid carbon dioxide on Mars. Science 294, 2146–2148 (2001).
22. Byrne, S. & Ingersoll, A. P. A sublimation model for Martian south polar ice features. Science 299,
elasticity, implying a possible need to revisit important parts of
1051–1053 (2003). engineering and environmental science. Here we show that this is
23. Byrne, S. & Ingersoll, A. P. Martian climate events on timescales of centuries: Evidence from feature not required, mostly because the new approaches (which often
morphology in the residual south polar ice cap. Geophys. Res. Lett. 30, doi:10.1029/2003GL017597 ignore interparticle friction6) apply mainly to mesoscopic-sized
(2003).
systems. An understanding of the crossover from the small- to the
Acknowledgements We acknowledge discussions with F. Montmessin and F. Forget. This work large-scale granular physics is essential for a better understanding of
was supported under NASA’s Planetary Atmospheres Program. granular matter in general.
Consider a vertical force applied to the top of a rectangular layer
Competing interests statement The authors declare that they have no competing financial (‘slab’) of a granular material, positioned on a horizontal surface. In a
interests. hyperbolic model4–6, the forces propagate along a cone, or two lines in
Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to A.C.
two dimensions (2D), so that the maximal pressure on the floor is not
(Anthony.Colaprete-1@nasa.gov). below the point of application of the force, but rather on a ring whose
diameter increases with the depth of the layer (or two points, in 2D).
The pressure distribution at the floor therefore exhibits two peaks (in
2D). In contrast, isotropic elasticity predicts a single peak, whose
width is proportional to the depth of the layer16,17, as observed in
.............................................................. some experiments16,18. Other experiments appear to be compatible
with a hyperbolic description (for example, for lattice configura-
Friction enhances elasticity tions8–10). Experiments therefore seem to be providing mixed
in granular solids messages on the correct description of granular statics.
As two-dimensional simulations are easier to perform and
visualize, we set out to study the microscopic basis of the above-
C. Goldenberg1* & I. Goldhirsch2
mentioned findings in 2D. We studied two-dimensional slabs,
1
School of Physics and Astronomy, Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact composed of monodisperse or polydisperse disks, using a standard
Sciences, 2Department of Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer, Faculty of grain interaction model19: the normal and tangential forces,
Engineering, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel denoted by F n and F t respectively, are determined by spring-dash-
* Present address: Physique et Mécanique des Milieux Hétérogènes, ESPCI, 10 rue Vauquelin, 75231 Paris
pot models (with spring constants k n and k t, respectively). A
Cedex 5, France transition to sliding occurs when the Coulomb friction law is
............................................................................................................................................................................. saturated: F t ¼ mF n, where m is the coefficient of static friction.
For years, engineers have used elastic and plastic models to Our numerical experiments proceeded as follows. First, an initial
describe the properties of granular solids, such as sand piles configuration of non-touching grains is prepared in an enclosure
and grains in silos1–3. However, there are theoretical4–6 and composed of rigid side walls and floor. The system is then relaxed
experimental7–14 results that challenge this approach. Specifically, under gravity to form a stationary slab (for details, see Fig. 1
it has been claimed4–6 that stress in granular solids propagates in legend). A downward vertical force (F ext) is slowly applied to the
a manner described by wave-like (hyperbolic) equations, rather top of the system until it reaches the desired value; the system is then
than the elliptic equations of static elasticity. Here we report further relaxed to a numerically static state.
numerical simulations of the response of a two-dimensional Consider first a monodisperse system, with the disks arranged on
granular slab to an external load, revealing that both approaches a triangular lattice. The force profile on the floor for different values
are valid—albeit on different length scales. For small systems that of F ext is shown in Fig. 1a–c, for systems with different coefficients
can be considered mesoscopic on the scale of the grains, a of friction. A crossover from a single-peaked to a two-peaked
hyperbolic-like, strongly anisotropic response is expected. How- response occurs as the applied force is increased (except for
ever, in large systems (those typically considered by engineers), m ¼ 1), the crossover value of the force increasing with m. The
the response is closer to that predicted by traditional isotropic dependence of the value of the force on the floor below the point of
elasticity models. Static friction, often ignored in simple models, application of F ext (x ¼ 0) on F ext is shown in Fig. 1d. An elastic-like
plays a key role: it increases the elastic range and renders the response (linear in F ext) is observed for small F ext. The extent of the
response more isotropic, even beyond this range. range in which the response is linear in F ext is significantly larger in
Collections of macroscopic particles, known as granular frictional systems. As we have verified that superposition holds as
188 NATURE | VOL 435 | 12 MAY 2005 | www.nature.com/nature
© 2005 Nature Publishing Group

Figure 1 Force distribution and linearity below a lattice of disks. The vertical force profile
on the floor of a triangular lattice of disks (60 particles wide and 15 deep), in response to
different values of a vertical applied force, Fext, at the top at x ¼ 0; the effect of gravity is
subtracted. These are results of numerical simulations with the following parameters (also
used for polydisperse systems): the normal spring constant for particle–particle
interactions, k n ¼ 3; 000mg=R; where R and m are the mean particle radius and mass
and g is the gravitational acceleration, and for particle–wall interactions k nwall ¼ 2k n : The
ratio of tangential to normal stiffness (k t/k n), for m – 0, is 0.8. The time step used is
Figure 2 The changes (the teardrop) in the contact network induced by an applied force,
for different values of Fext and m. Particles are indicated by circles, and lines connecting
particle centres indicate open contacts (compared to the case when gravity alone is
NATURE | VOL 435 | 12 MAY 2005 | www.nature.com/nature
© 2005 Nature Publishing Group
letters to nature
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
5 £ 1024 R=g : The force is increased from 0 to F ext in a time R=g ; typically the
relaxation to a numerically static state (in which we verified that the force
ffi response
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
converges to better than 1% accuracy) requires a time between R=g and 30 R=g ;
leading to a kinetic energy per particle of 10213 mgR (and 1029 mgR in the polydisperse
case). Note that because the viscous-like damping used here is an artificial device
designed to achieve a static state, it is questionable whether this time corresponds to a
realistic physical time. a, m ¼ 0 (frictionless). b, m ¼ 0.2. c, m ¼ 1. d, The vertical force
on the floor at x ¼ 0 with increasing F ext, for different values of m.
present and no external force is applied; the loss of contact that follows slipping is not
separately marked, for simplicity). Only the central third of the system width is shown.
189
letters to nature

Figure 3 Effects of friction. a, The response of an ordered triangular lattice of disks with respectively, and by tangential springs with stiffness k t1, k t2, respectively. The rest length
Fext ¼ 15mg, for different values of k t/kn and m ¼ 10 (practically equivalent to m ¼ 1). of the normal springs is taken to equal the lattice constant, and that of the tangential
b, A model spring network with normal and tangential springs. Nearest neighbours springs is zero. c, Same as a, for different values of m and k t/k n ¼ 0.8.
connected by normal springs with stiffness k n1, k n2 for horizontal and oblique springs,

well in this range, one could say that elasticity is enhanced by response remains single-peaked (Fig. 1c) even when the teardrop
friction. reaches the floor (Fig. 2f). This turns out to be yet another
The sources of deviation from linearity are loss of contact and consequence of friction. When m is sufficiently large (and F ext
sliding induced by the application of the external force (both being sufficiently small), its value is essentially immaterial, because sliding
‘rearrangements’). The resulting changes in the contact network are is never reached (of course, for sufficiently large forcing, even
shown in Fig. 2. For a sufficiently small force (not shown), the systems with large m succumb, and a two-peaked response is
contact network is unchanged, and the response is fully elastic. As obtained; this transition will not be described here). In this case,
the force is increased, horizontal contacts are opened in a teardrop-
shaped region below the point of application of the force, whose size
increases with the force and decreases with friction (and with the
stiffness of the particles, but the size of the region appears to saturate
as the normal spring constant is increased above about
kn ¼ 2; 000mg=R—where R and m are the mean particle radius
and mass and g is the acceleration due to gravity—which is smaller
than the value used in the simulations presented here). In the
frictionless case, a region with no horizontal contacts comprises an
‘extremely’ anisotropic elastic system, in the sense that it corre-
sponds locally to the hyperbolic limit of the elastic equations20,
related to the appearance of a zero-energy strain mode (note that in
ref. 20, strict hyperbolic behaviour is shown to occur when all
horizontal contacts are open). Two peaks are expected for suffi-
ciently large anisotropy in an elastic system17,20; in the hyperbolic
limit, two delta peaks are obtained (this is not a result of the
existence of force chains, which can be present in macroscopically
isotropic systems17). When the ‘teardrop’ is sufficiently far from the
floor (Fig. 2a, b) the pressure distribution is single-peaked, because
the distortion induced by the force can be considered to be localized.
Otherwise, the anisotropy induced by the external force reaches the
floor (Fig. 2c), inducing a two-peaked response. The dependence of
the size of the affected region on the depth of the slab was examined
by simulating systems with different numbers of particles; for a
given applied force, this size (measured in particle diameters) was
not strongly sensitive to the depth of the slab (it actually decreased
slightly with increasing system size). We may therefore conclude
that, for identical external loads, very deep systems should exhibit
single-peaked floor pressure distributions, whereas relatively Figure 4 Effects of disorder and a phase diagram. a, The response of polydisperse
shallow ones (as in some experiments8–12,16,18) exhibit ‘hyperbolic- systems, smoothed (see text) and averaged over five realizations of the disorder, with
like’ two-peaked distributions. Because static friction (in the polydispersity d ¼ 0.25 and m ¼ 0.2, for various Fext. The response is not symmetrical;
absence of sliding) is reversible, one can describe the stress distri- however, the probability of a mirror image of a given configuration is the same as the
bution in either case by (incremental) isotropic or anisotropic, not original one, so we could include the mirror configurations to obtain a symmetrical
necessarily homogeneous, elasticity. As mentioned, the ‘extreme’ response. It is interesting that an average over only five realizations (with smoothing) is
limit of the anisotropic case (when all horizontal contacts are open) sufficient to demonstrate the crossover from a single peak to a double peak, and even
is of hyperbolic nature17,20. We note that while the process in which result (in some cases) in nearly symmetrical graphs. The inset indicates the root-mean-
particle contacts are opened cannot be described by elastic square fluctuations for F ext ¼ 3mg: When far from the crossover force, the typical
dynamics, it may be possible to describe the final state by elastic response of a realization resembles that of the ensemble average, whereas close to the
statics. crossover, stronger fluctuations are observed in the response. b, Schematic phase
The localization of open contacts does not provide a full diagram (in the m–F ext plane) for the crossover from a single-peaked to a two-peaked
explanation for the results shown in Fig. 1, because for m ¼ 1, the response, for different degrees of polydispersity d.
190 NATURE | VOL 435 | 12 MAY 2005 | www.nature.com/nature
© 2005 Nature Publishing Group

the ratio of tangential to normal stiffness, k t/k n, determines the
response (Fig. 3a), which becomes nearly universal for large k t/k n. A
spring network model (Fig. 3b) with m ¼ 1 (similar to the models
studied in refs 21–25) can be used to estimate the elastic moduli in
the teardrop domain. Using a criterion proposed in ref. 20, a
crossover from a single peak to two peaks is predicted at kt =kn <
0:3; in agreement with our numerical findings (Fig. 3a). We note
that, in practice, the expected value of k t/k n for realistic granular
matter should satisfy 2/3 , k t/k n , 1 (this follows from the
Cattaneo–Mindlin model26 for the contact of elastic spheres),
which is well above the threshold for obtaining one peak. Here,
unless otherwise noted, we use k t/k n ¼ 0.8. The reduced anisotropy
(for sufficiently large k t/k n) is due to the horizontal projections of
the static frictional forces, which compensate for the lack of normal
contact forces, and can prevent the opening of horizontal contacts27,
as indicated by the extended linear range in the presence of friction
(Fig. 1d). In other words, static friction acts to retain an ‘effective
connectivity’ between the grains when the horizontal contacts are
open (as inside the teardrop), and render the system more isotropic
than one would have anticipated in the absence of friction (but
not exactly isotropic). Hence, for sufficiently large m (and realistic
k t/k n), the response is single-peaked. On the other hand, when m is
small (or F ext large), sliding occurs, which increases the anisotropy
and leads to a crossover to a two-peaked response. This crossover is
shown as a function of F ext (for m ¼ 0.2) in Fig. 1b, and as a function
of m (for F ext ¼ 15mg) in Fig. 3c.
Polydisperse systems (with a uniform distribution of radii in the
interval [R 2 d·R, R]), where d is a measure of the polydispersity,
and R denotes the maximal particle radius, exhibit qualitatively
similar behaviour to that described above. The main difference is
that the range of values of F ext for which the response is linear in
F ext, as well as the range of F ext for which a single peak is obtained,
decreases with increasing polydispersity, see Fig. 4a. Because the
disorder in these systems induces fluctuations (which are not
present in ordered systems), the results presented in Fig. 4a were
smoothed by a convolution with a gaussian in the horizontal (x)
2
direction: pffiffip1ffiw e2ðx=wÞ with w ¼ 6R; and averaged over several
realizations of the disorder (typically five).
Our results on the effect of F ext, m and the degree of polydispersity
on the crossover are summarized in a schematic phase diagram,
Fig. 4b. The diagram enables us to interpret several recent experi-
mental studies of the response of granular materials to a localized
force8–12,16,18; different experiments correspond to different regions
in this diagram. A single-peaked response was observed in experi-
ments on disordered three-dimensional (3D) packings15,17 with
small applied forces (a few times the particle weight), whereas
multiple peaks were observed in experiments on ordered 3D
packings10, where forces of a few thousand times the particle weight
were applied. These peaks faded away for deeper systems. Experi-
ments in 2D systems using photoelastic particles typically use a
rather large applied force (F ext < 150mg in refs 8, 9), required to
obtain a significant photoelastic effect. The interparticle forces in
the nominally ordered case are reproduced qualitatively even with
frictionless particles 17; however, the introduction of friction
improves this agreement to an essentially quantitative level. A Walk, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA
Received 8 August 2004; accepted 21 February 2005; doi:10.1038/nature03497.
1. Nedderman, R. M. Statics and Kinematics of Granular Materials (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge,
1992).
2. Savage, S. B. in Physics of Dry Granular Media (eds Herrmann, H. J., Hovi, J. P. & Luding, S.) 25–95
(NATO ASI Series, Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1998).
3. Jackson, R. in Theory of Dispersed Multiphase Flow (ed. Meyer, R. E.) 291–337 (Academic, New York,
1983).
4. Wittmer, J. P., Claudin, P., Cates, M. E. & Bouchaud, J.-P. An explanation for the central stress
minimum in sand piles. Nature 382, 336–338 (1996).
5. Bouchaud, J.-P., Claudin, P., Levine, D. & Otto, M. Force chain splitting in granular materials: a
mechanism for large-scale pseudo-elastic behaviour. Eur. Phys. J. E 4, 451–457 (2001).
6. Tkachenko, A. V. & Witten, T. A. Stress propagation through frictionless granular material. Phys. Rev. E
60, 687–696 (1999).
NATURE | VOL 435 | 12 MAY 2005 | www.nature.com/nature
© 2005 Nature Publishing Group
letters to nature
7. Drescher, A. & de Josselin de Jong, G. Photoelastic verification of a mechanical model for the flow of a
granular material. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 20, 337–351 (1972).
8. Geng, J. et al. Footprints in sand: the response of a granular material to local perturbations. Phys. Rev.
Lett. 87, 035506 (2001).
9. Geng, J., Reydellet, G., Clément, E. & Behringer, R. P. Green’s function measurements of force
transmission in 2D granular materials. Physica D 182, 274–303 (2003).
10. Mueggenburg, N. W., Jaeger, H. M. & Nagel, S. R. Stress transmission through three-dimensional
ordered granular arrays. Phys. Rev. E 66, 031304 (2002).
11. Moukarzel, C. F., Pacheco-Martinez, H., Ruiz-Suarez, J. C. & Vidales, A. M. Static response in disk
packings. Granular Matter 6, 61–66 (2004).
12. da Silva, M. & Rajchenbach, J. Stress transmission through a model system of cohesionless elastic
grains. Nature 406, 708–710 (2000).
13. Smid, J. & Novosad, J. Pressure distribution under heaped bulk solids. In Proc. 1981 Powtech Conf.,
Institution of Chemical Engineers Symp. 63, D3/V/1–12 (1981).
14. Brockbank, R., Huntley, J. M. & Ball, R. C. Contact force distribution beneath a three-dimensional
granular pile. J. Phys. II 7, 1521–1532 (1997).
15. Vanel, L., Howell, D., Clark, D., Behringer, R. P. & Clément, E. Memories in sand: experimental tests of
construction history on stress distributions under sandpiles. Phys. Rev. E 60, R5040–R5043 (1999).
16. Serero, D., Reydellet, G., Claudin, P., Clément, E. & Levine, D. Stress response function of a granular
layer: quantitative comparison between experiments and isotropic elasticity. Eur. Phys. J. E 6, 169–179
(2001).
17. Goldenberg, C. & Goldhirsch, I. Force chains, microelasticity, and macroelasticity. Phys. Rev. Lett. 89,
084302 (2002).
18. Reydellet, G. & Clément, E. Green’s function probe of a static granular piling. Phys. Rev. Lett. 86,
3308–3311 (2001).
19. Cundall, P. A. & Strack, O. D. L. A discrete numerical model for granular assemblies. Geotechnique 29,
47–65 (1979).
20. Otto, M., Bouchaud, J.-P., Claudin, P. & Socolar, J. E. S. Anisotropy in granular media: classical
elasticity and directed-force chain network. Phys. Rev. E 67, 031302 (2003).
21. Duffy, J. & Mindlin, R. D. Stress–strain relations and vibrations of a granular medium. J. Appl. Mech.
24, 585–593 (1957).
22. Bathurst, R. J. & Rothenburg, L. Micromechanical aspects of isotropic granular assemblies with linear
contact interactions. J. Appl. Mech. 55, 17–23 (1988).
23. Chang, C. S. & Ma, L. Elastic material constants for isotropic granular solids with particle rotation. Int.
J. Solids Struct. 29, 1001–1018 (1992).
24. Gay, C. & da Silveira, R. Anisotropic elastic theory of preloaded granular media. Europhys. Lett. 68,
51–57 (2004).
25. da Silveira, R., Vidalenc, G. & Gay, C. Stress propagation in two dimensional frictional granular
matter. Preprint at khttp://arXiv.org/cond-mat/0208214l (2002).
26. Johnson, K. L. Contact Mechanics 220 (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1985).
27. Tournat, V. Probing weak forces in granular media through nonlinear dynamic dilatancy: clapping
contacts and polarization anisotropy. Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 085502 (2004).
Acknowledgements We thank A. P. F. Atman, R. P. Behringer, P. Claudin, E. Clément, J. Geng,
N. Mueggenburg, M. van Hecke, W. van Saarloos and T. A. Witten for discussions. This work was
supported by the Israel Science Foundation (ISF) and the US-Israel Binational Science
Foundation (BSF).
Competing interests statement The authors declare that they have no competing financial
interests.
Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to I.G. (isaac@eng.tau.ac.il).
..............................................................
Nonlinear elasticity in biological gels
Cornelis Storm1*, Jennifer J. Pastore2, F. C. MacKintosh3,
T. C. Lubensky1,2 & Paul A. Janmey1,2
1
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, 209 South
33rd Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA
2
Institute for Medicine and Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, 3340 Smith
3
Division of Physics and Astronomy, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan
1081, 1081HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
* Present address: Instituut-Lorentz for Theoretical Physics, LION, Universiteit Leiden, PO Box 9506,
NL-2300RA Leiden, The Netherlands
.............................................................................................................................................................................
The mechanical properties of soft biological tissues are essential
to their physiological function and cannot easily be duplicated by
synthetic materials. Unlike simple polymer gels, many biological
materials—including blood vessels1, mesentery tissue2, lung
parenchyma3, cornea4 and blood clots5 —stiffen as they are
strained, thereby preventing large deformations that could
threaten tissue integrity. The molecular structures and design
191