https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202124914007
LMGC90: a Contact Dynamics open source code for the simulation of granular asteroid with realistic regolith shapes. Application to the accretion process
1
Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research, University of Colorado Boulder, 3775 Discovery Dr, Boulder, CO 80303, USA
2
LMGC, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, Montpellier, France
3
Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Paris, France
* e-mail: diego.sanchez-lana@colorado.edu
Published online: 7 June 2021
Granular asteroids are naturally occurring gravitational aggregates (rubble piles) bound together by gravitational forces. For this reason, it is reasonable to use the theoretical concepts and numerical tools developed for granular media to study them. In this paper, we extend the field of applicability of the Contact Dynamic (CD) method, a class of non smooth discrete element approach, for the simulation of three dimensional granular asteroids. The CD method is particularly relevant to address the study of dense granular assemblies of a large number of particles of complex shape and broad particles size distribution, since it does not introduces numerical artefacts due to contact stiffness. We describe how the open source software LMGC90, interfaced with an external library for the calculation of self-gravity, is used to model the accretion process of spherical and irregular polyhedral particles.
A video is available at https://doi.org/10.48448/ymga-dr73
© 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.
