Investigating the Geometrical Structure of Disordered Sphere Packings

TL;DR

This study uses X-ray CT to analyze large, disordered sphere packings, revealing detailed grain-scale structures and exploring how local geometry influences densification.

Contribution

It provides the largest, most accurate characterization of disordered sphere packings at the grain scale and discusses methods to analyze their geometrical structure.

Findings

Detailed grain-scale structure of disordered packings characterized

Local geometry impacts densification dynamics

Largest dataset of such packings analyzed

Abstract

Bead packs of up to 150,000 mono-sized spheres with packing densities ranging from 0.58 to 0.64 have been studied by means of X-ray Computed Tomography. These studies represent the largest and the most accurate description of the structure of disordered packings at the grain-scale ever attempted. We investigate the geometrical structure of such packings looking for signatures of disorder. We discuss ways to characterize and classify these systems and the implications that local geometry can have on densification dynamics.