Quantitative structural analysis of simulated granular packings of non-spherical particles

Abstract

A set of computationally generated granular packings of frictionless grains is statistically analyzed using tools from stochastic geometry. We consider both the graph of the solid phase (formed using the particle mid-points) and the pore-phase. Structural characteristics rooted in the analysis of random point processes are seen to yield valuable insights into the underlying structure of granular systems. The graph of the solid phase is analyzed using traditional measures such as edge length and coordination number, as well as more instructive measures of the overall transport properties such as geometric tortuosity, where significant differences are observed in the windedness of paths through the different particle graphs considered. In contrast, the distributions of pore-phase characteristics have a similar shape for all considered granular packings. Interestingly, it is found that prolate and oblate ellipsoid packings show a striking similarity between their solid-phase graphs as well as between their pore-phase graphs.