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Merging criteria for defining pores and constrictions in numerical packing of spheres

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Abstract

The void space of granular materials is generally divided into larger local volumes denoted as pores and throats connecting pores. The smallest section in a throat is usually denoted as constriction. A correct description of pores and constrictions may help to understand the processes related to the transport of fluid or fine particles through granular materials, or to build models of imbibition for unsaturated granular media. In the case of numerical granular materials involving packings of spheres, different methods can be used to compute the pore space properties. However, these methods generally induce an over-segmentation of the pore network and a merging step is usually applied to mitigate such undesirable artifacts even if a precise delineation of a pore is somewhat subjective. This study provides a comparison between different merging criteria for pores in packing of spheres and a discussion about their implication on both the pore size distribution and the constriction size distribution of the material. A correspondence between these merging techniques is eventually proposed as a guide for the user.

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Acknowledgements

Part of this work belongs to a project funded by Compagnie Nationale du Rhône (CNR). F. Seblany and E. Vincens acknowledge CNR for its interest and its financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ecole Centrale de Lyon, LTDS, UMR CNRS 5513, Université de Lyon, 36 avenue Guy de Collongue, 69134, Ecully, France

    Feda Seblany & Eric Vincens

  2. Department Visual Data Analysis, Zuse Institute Berlin, Takustr. 7, 14195, Dahlem, Berlin, Germany

    Ulrike Homberg

  3. Chair of Geotechnical Engineering, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Coudraystraße 11c, 99423, Weimar, Germany

    Paul Winkler & Karl Josef Witt

Authors
  1. Feda Seblany
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Correspondence to Feda Seblany.

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Seblany, F., Homberg, U., Vincens, E. et al. Merging criteria for defining pores and constrictions in numerical packing of spheres. Granular Matter 20, 37 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10035-018-0808-z

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