The force network ensemble of Snoeijer et al. (Physical Review Letters, 2004, 92, 054302) is a convenient model to study networks of contact forces that typically are present in granular matter. Recently, we have shown that it is possible to extremely accurately determine the probability of contact forces in the framework of the this ensemble (van Eerd et al. , Physical Review E, 2007, 75, 060302(R) and Tighe et al. , Physical Review Letters, 2008, 100, 238001). In this work, we review several

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... mportant details of these computations. In particular, we study in detail the angle-resolved contact force distribution, finite-size effects, the maximum allowed shear stress and the effect of walls. In addition, we investigate how well the force network ensemble resembles systems with "real" interactions.