title: Structural characterization of the packings of granular regular polygons.
abstract: By using a recently developed method for discrete modeling of nonspherical particles, we simulate the random packings of granular regular polygons with three to 11 edges under gravity. The effects of shape and friction on the packing structures are investigated by various structural parameters, including packing fraction, the radial distribution function, coordination number, Voronoi tessellation, and bond-orientational order. We find that packing fraction is generally higher for geometrically nonfrustrated regular polygons, and can be increased by the increase of edge number and decrease of friction. The changes of packing fraction are linked with those of the microstructures, such as the variations of the translational and orientational orders and local configurations. In particular, the free areas of Voronoi tessellations (which are related to local packing fractions) can be described by log-normal distributions for all polygons. The quantitative analyses establish a clearer picture for the packings of regular polygons.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Simulation and Modeling of Particulate Systems, Department of Chemical Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia.
authors.forename: Chuncheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Institute for Infrastructure Engineering, Western Sydney University, Penrith NSW 2751, Australia.
authors.forename: Kejun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Simulation and Modeling of Particulate Systems, Department of Chemical Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia.
authors.forename: Aibing
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yu