Log-Normal and Mono-Sized Particles’ Packing into a Bounded Region

Abstract

Many systems can be modeled with hard and various size spheres, therefore packing and geometrical structures of such sets are of great importance. In this paper, rigid spherical particles distributed in different sizes are randomly packed in confined spaces, using a parallel algorithm. Mersenne Twister algorithm was used to generate pseudorandom numbers for initial coordination of particles. Distribution of packing densities and reproducibility of particles packing factor, with log-normal size distribution and also mono-sized particles have been compared. In addition, the effects of container size on regional particle packing density, the effect of wall on packing density and symmetry of packed structure have been investigated. The results confirm that particles in log-normal size distribution have higher packing densities, but the obtained results have less reproducibility than mono-sized particles. Also, in comparison, particles in log-normal size distribution have uniform density and regions with higher local density.