@article {601, title = {Effect of particle size distribution on 3D packings of spherical particles}, journal = {EPJ Web of Conferences}, volume = {140}, year = {2017}, month = {Jun-30-2017}, pages = {Article Number 02030}, abstract = {

We use molecular dynamics simulations of frictionless spherical particles to investigate a class of polydisperse granular materials in which the particle size distribution is uniform in particle volumes. The particles are assembled in a box by uniaxial compaction under the action of a constant stress. Due to the absence of friction and the nature of size distribution, the generated packings have the highest packing fraction at a given size span, defined as the ratio of the largest size to the smallest size. We find that, up to = 5, the packing fraction is a nearly linear function of . While the coordination number is nearly constant due to the isostatic nature of the packings, we show that the connectivity of the particles evolves with . In particular, the proportion of particles with 4 contacts represents the largest proportion of particles mostly of small size. We argue that this particular class of particles occurs as a result of the high stability of local configurations in which a small particle is stuck by four larger particles.

}, doi = {10.1051/epjconf/201714002030}, url = {http://www.epj-conferences.org/10.1051/epjconf/201714002030}, author = {Taiebat, Mahdi and Patrick Mutabaruka and Roland Jean-Marc Pellenq and Farhang Radja{\"\i}}, editor = {Saeid Nezamabadi and Luding, S. and Jean-Yves Delenne} }