https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202124902003
Optimal packing in 2D and 3D granular systems: Density, connectivity, and force distributions
1
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Bogotá, Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Física, 111321 - Colombia
2
Universidad de la Sabana, Facultad de Ingeniería, 140013 - Colombia
3
Universidad de los Andes, Departamento de Ingeniería Civil y Ambiental, 111711 - Colombia
* e-mail: wfoquendop@unal.edu.co, william.oquendo@unisabana.edu.co
** e-mail: n.estrada22@uniandes.edu.co
Published online: 7 June 2021
In this work, we explore the influence of the grain size distribution (GSD) on density, connectivity and internal forces distributions, for both 2D and 3D granular packings built mechanically. For power law GSDs, we show that there is an exponent for which density and connectivity are optimized, and this exponent is close to those that characterize other well known GSDs such as the Fuller and Thompson distribution and the Appollonian packing. In addition, we studied the distributions of normal forces, finding that these can be well described by a power-law tail, specially for the GSDs with large size span. These results highlight the role of the GSD on internal structure and suggest important consequences on macroscopic properties.
A video is available at https://doi.org/10.48448/xfmd-ay60
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2021
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
