(1) Groupe Matière Condensée et Matériaux, UMR CNRS 6626, Université de Rennes 1, Campus de Beaulieu, 35042 Rennes Cedex, France;(2) Cemagref, Aix-en-Provence, Le Tholonet BP 31, 13612 Aix-en-Provence Cedex 1, France
Abstract:
When submitted to gentle mechanical taps a granular packing
slowly compacts until it reaches a stationary state that depends
on the tap characteristics. The properties of such stationary states are
experimentally investigated. The influence of the initial state, taps properties and tapping protocol are studied. The compactivity
of the packings is determinated. Our results strongly support the idea that the stationary states are genuine thermodynamic
states.