Method for generating mesostructure of soil-rock mixture based on Minkowski sum

Abstract

The soil-rock mixture is widely distributed in nature, and the mechanical properties of it is a key concern in geotechnical engineering field. The mechanical response of soil-rock mixture can be obtained using numerical approaches. As the precondition for numeric simulation, the mesostructure of soil-rock mixture is indispensable. The random rock packing is the main step in the construction of the mesostructure. The classical trial packing method are inefficient when the rock area fraction is high. Permissible positions to pack new rock can be predicted in the algorithm using entrance block and background mesh, resulting in dramatic improvement in efficiency and robustness. Entrance block and Minkowski sum can be transformed into each other, and there are more algorithms for Minkowski sum. Therefore, a random rock packing algorithm based on Minkowski sum is constructed, each rock can be packed successfully at one time, avoiding multiple trials in the traditional trial packing method and improving the efficiency of packing.