Densest Local Structures of Uniaxial Ellipsoids
Connecting the collective behavior of disordered systems with local structure on the particle scale is an important challenge, for example, in granular and glassy systems. Compounding complexity, in many scientific and industrial applications, particles are polydisperse, aspherical, or even of varyi...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
American Physical Society
2016-11-01
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| Series: | Physical Review X |
| Online Access: | http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.6.041032 |
| _version_ | 1819032978802606080 |
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| author | Fabian M. Schaller Robert F. B. Weigel Sebastian C. Kapfer |
| author_facet | Fabian M. Schaller Robert F. B. Weigel Sebastian C. Kapfer |
| author_sort | Fabian M. Schaller |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Connecting the collective behavior of disordered systems with local structure on the particle scale is an important challenge, for example, in granular and glassy systems. Compounding complexity, in many scientific and industrial applications, particles are polydisperse, aspherical, or even of varying shape. Here, we investigate a generalization of the classical kissing problem in order to understand the local building blocks of packings of aspherical grains. We numerically determine the densest local structures of uniaxial ellipsoids by minimizing the Set Voronoi cell volume around a given particle. Depending on the particle aspect ratio, different local structures are observed and classified by symmetry and Voronoi coordination number. In extended disordered packings of frictionless particles, knowledge of the densest structures allows us to rescale the Voronoi volume distributions onto the single-parameter family of k-Gamma distributions. Moreover, we find that approximate icosahedral clusters are found in random packings, while the optimal local structures for more aspherical particles are not formed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T07:10:32Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b9084886482c4bd8bac7b0b30a7ef751 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2160-3308 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T07:10:32Z |
| publishDate | 2016-11-01 |
| publisher | American Physical Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Physical Review X |
| spelling | doaj.art-b9084886482c4bd8bac7b0b30a7ef7512022-12-21T19:12:00ZengAmerican Physical SocietyPhysical Review X2160-33082016-11-016404103210.1103/PhysRevX.6.041032Densest Local Structures of Uniaxial EllipsoidsFabian M. SchallerRobert F. B. WeigelSebastian C. KapferConnecting the collective behavior of disordered systems with local structure on the particle scale is an important challenge, for example, in granular and glassy systems. Compounding complexity, in many scientific and industrial applications, particles are polydisperse, aspherical, or even of varying shape. Here, we investigate a generalization of the classical kissing problem in order to understand the local building blocks of packings of aspherical grains. We numerically determine the densest local structures of uniaxial ellipsoids by minimizing the Set Voronoi cell volume around a given particle. Depending on the particle aspect ratio, different local structures are observed and classified by symmetry and Voronoi coordination number. In extended disordered packings of frictionless particles, knowledge of the densest structures allows us to rescale the Voronoi volume distributions onto the single-parameter family of k-Gamma distributions. Moreover, we find that approximate icosahedral clusters are found in random packings, while the optimal local structures for more aspherical particles are not formed.http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.6.041032 |
| spellingShingle | Fabian M. Schaller Robert F. B. Weigel Sebastian C. Kapfer Densest Local Structures of Uniaxial Ellipsoids Physical Review X |
| title | Densest Local Structures of Uniaxial Ellipsoids |
| title_full | Densest Local Structures of Uniaxial Ellipsoids |
| title_fullStr | Densest Local Structures of Uniaxial Ellipsoids |
| title_full_unstemmed | Densest Local Structures of Uniaxial Ellipsoids |
| title_short | Densest Local Structures of Uniaxial Ellipsoids |
| title_sort | densest local structures of uniaxial ellipsoids |
| url | http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.6.041032 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT fabianmschaller densestlocalstructuresofuniaxialellipsoids AT robertfbweigel densestlocalstructuresofuniaxialellipsoids AT sebastianckapfer densestlocalstructuresofuniaxialellipsoids |