Abstract
Understanding the properties of random packings of solid objects is of critical importance to a wide variety of fundamental scientific and practical problems. The great majority of the previous works focused, however, on packings of spherical and sphere-like particles. We report the first detailed simulation and characterization of packings of non-overlapping cubic particles. Such packings arise in a variety of problems, ranging from biological materials, to colloids and fabrication of porous scaffolds using salt powders. In addition, packing of cubic salt crystals arise in various problems involving preservation of pavements, paintings, and historical monuments, mineral-fluid interactions, CO2 sequestration in rock, and intrusion of groundwater aquifers by saline water. Not much is known, however, about the structure and statistical descriptors of such packings. We have developed a version of the random sequential addition algorithm to generate such packings, and have computed a variety of microstructural descriptors, including the radial distribution function, two-point probability function, orientational correlation function, specific surface, and mean chord length, and have studied the effect of finite system size and porosity on such characteristics. The results indicate the existence of both spatial and orientational long-range order in the packing, which is more distinctive for higher packing densities. The maximum packing fraction is about 0.57.
Highlights
Understanding the properties of random packings of solid objects is of critical importance to a wide variety of fundamental scientific and practical problems
Packing of cubic salt crystals arise in various problems involving preservation of pavements, paintings, and historical monuments, mineral-fluid interactions, CO2 sequestration in rock, and intrusion of groundwater aquifers by saline water
We have developed a version of the random sequential addition algorithm to generate such packings, and have computed a variety of microstructural descriptors, including the radial distribution function, two-point probability function, orientational correlation function, specific surface, and mean chord length, and have studied the effect of finite system size and porosity on such characteristics
Summary
Understanding the properties of random packings of solid objects is of critical importance to a wide variety of fundamental scientific and practical problems. In this paper we report on the results of extensive computer simulation of microstructural characterization of an important, yet unexplored type of packings, namely, those that consist of non-overlapping cubic particles. Salt crystallizes and precipitates on the surface of the system in which the water is flowing, giving rise to a packing of cubic salt crystals that damages the surface Understanding this phenomenon and how the packing changes the morphology of the system in which salt has precipitated are of fundamental importance to preservation of pavements, paintings, and historical monuments, mineral-fluid interactions, CO2 sequestration in rock, and intrusion of groundwater aquifers by saline water, as the world faces increasing difficulty in obtaining the drinking water that it needs[27]. The reason for using the RSA algorithm is that other algorithms, such as various molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo methods for hard-particle packings www.nature.com/scientificreports/
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