Jamming, Yielding, and Rheology of Weakly Vibrated Granular Media

We establish that the rheological curve of dry granular media is nonmonotonic, both in the presence and absence of external mechanical agitations. In the presence of weak vibrations, the nonmonotonic flow curves govern a hysteretic transition between slow but steady and fast, inertial flows. In the absence of vibrations, the nonmonotonic flow curve governs the yielding behavior of granular media. Finally, we show that nonmonotonic flow curves can be seen in at least two different flow geometries and for several granular materials.