Critical Scaling of Shear Viscosity at the Jamming Transition

Abstract

We carry out numerical simulations to study transport behavior about the jamming transition of a model granular material in two dimensions at zero temperature. Shear viscosity η is computed as a function of particle volume density ρ and applied shear stress σ, for diffusively moving particles with a soft core interaction. We find an excellent scaling collapse of our data as a function of the scaling variable σ/|ρc−ρ|Δ, where ρc is the critical density at σ=0 (“point J”), and Δ is the crossover scaling critical exponent. We define a correlation length ξ from velocity correlations in the driven steady state and show that it diverges at point J. Our results support the assertion that jamming is a true second-order critical phenomenon.