The Link Between Packing Morphology and the Distribution of Contact Forces and Stresses in Packings of Highly Non-Convex Particles

TL;DR

This study explores how the shape of highly non-convex particles affects the distribution of contact forces and packing structure in 2D and 3D, revealing significant differences in force heterogeneity and crystallinity related to particle sphericity.

Contribution

It introduces a new discrete element method to analyze the impact of particle sphericity on force distribution and crystallinity in non-convex particle packings in 2D and 3D.

Findings

In 3D packings, force heterogeneity increases as particles become less spherical.

In 2D packings, force distribution is unaffected by particle sphericity.

Decreasing sphericity reduces crystallinity in 3D packings.

Abstract

An external load on a particle packing is distributed internally through a heterogeneous network of particle contacts. This contact force distribution determines the stability of the particle packing and the resulting structure. Here, we investigate the homogeneity of the contact force distribution in packings of highly non-convex particles both in two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) packings. A newly developed discrete element method is used to model packings of non-convex particles of varying sphericity. Our results establish that in 3D packings the distribution of the contact forces in the normal direction becomes increasingly heterogeneous with decreasing particle sphericity. However, in 2D packings the contact force distribution is independent of particle sphericity, indicating that results obtained in 2D packings cannot be extrapolated readily to 3D packings. Radial distribution functions (RDFs) show that the crystallinity in 3D packings decreases with decreasing particle sphericity. We link the decreasing homogeneity of the contact force distributions to the decreasing crystallinity of 3D packings. These findings are complementary to the previously observed link between the heterogeneity of the contact force distribution and a decreasing packing crystallinity due to an increasing polydispersity of spherical particles.