Granular packing as a research area investigates the structural, mechanical, and dynamical properties of densely packed assemblies of discrete macroscopic particles, such as grains, beads, or powders. It focuses on how particle shape, size distribution, friction, cohesion, and confining conditions determine packing fraction, force chains, jamming transitions, and mechanical stability. Researchers use experiments, discrete element simulations, and statistical or continuum models to study phenomena such as random close packing, shear-induced rearrangements, compaction, and segregation. This field bridges condensed matter physics, materials science, and geomechanics, with relevance to industrial processing, geophysical flows, and the design of granular metamaterials.
The types of glass that we encounter in everyday life, such as window glass or smartphone screens, are disordered solids. This means that they consist of particles locked in place, like those in solids, but arranged randomly, ...
Optimal packing problems have inspired mathematicians for centuries. Biophysicists now add a layer to the question: How do chloroplasts arrange themselves optimally within cells, when the meaning of "optimal" changes over ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 23, 2025
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What if particles don't slow down in a crowd, but move faster? Physicists from Leiden worked together and discovered a new state of matter, where particles pass on energy through collisions and create more movement when packed ...
General Physics
Aug 4, 2025
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When we take a stroll on the beach, we walk on the sand without any trouble. The sand appears solid and is difficult to compress. When we put the same sand grains in an hourglass, they behave very differently: the sand flows ...
General Physics
Apr 3, 2024
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