Phase transition in a static granular system

We find that a column of glass beads exhibits a well-defined transition between two phases that differ in their resistance to shear. Pulses of fluidization are used to prepare static sedimented states with well-defined particle volume fractions $\phi $ in the range 0.57$\hbox{--} $0.63. The resistance to shear is determined by slowly inserting a rod into the column of beads. Force measurements and bed height measurements both indicate that the transition occurs at $\phi =0.60$ for a range of speeds of the rod.