  Granular matter takes many paths to pack. Gentle compression, compaction or
repetitive tapping can happen in natural and industrial processes. The path
influences the packing microstructure, and thus macroscale properties,
particularly for frictional grains. We perform discrete element modeling
simulations to construct packings of frictional spheres implementing a range of
stress-controlled protocols with 3D periodic boundary conditions. A
volume-controlled over-compression method is compared to four stress-controlled
methods, including over-compression and release, gentle under-compression and
cyclical compression and release. The packing volume fraction of each method
depends on the pressure, initial kinetic energy and protocol parameters. A
non-monotonic pressure dependence in the volume fraction, but not the
coordination number occurs when dilute particles initialized with a non-zero
kinetic energy are compressed, but can be reduced with the inclusion of drag.
The fraction of frictional contacts correlates with the volume fraction
minimum. Packings were cyclically compressed 1000 times. Response to
compression depends on pressure; low pressure packings have a constant volume
fraction regime, while high pressure packings continue to get dense with number
of cycles. The capability of stress-controlled, bulk-like particle simulations
to capture different protocols is showcased, and the ability to pack at low
pressures demonstrates unexpected behavior.
