MICROSTRUCTURAL DESCRIPTORS CHARACTERIZING GRANULAR DEPOSITS

Quantitative results are presented on mean coordination number and coordination number distribution, contact normal distribution and fabric tensor of simulated anisotropic granular deposits with resulting solid fractions between ca. 15% for ballistic deposits and 58%, corresponding to a random loose packing. The deposits, generated by the capture of uniform size spherical particles arriving normal to a target, were simulated using a simple algorithmic model. We focus on microstructural quantities which explicitly take into account the discrete nature of the granules comprising the deposit. Such measures are important in determining the heat transport properties of the deposits for Fourier conduction through the solid phase, as well as their mechanical and sintering properties. The variation of mean coordination number with deposit solid fraction was successfully correlated using a unit-cell model (Eq. 13). This correlation, in conjunction with entropy maximization arguments (after Nayak and Tien, 1978) has been further used to predict the coordination number distribution. The usefulness of the results reported here is illustrated by computing an upper bound to the deposit effective thermal conductivity (Jagota and Hui, 1990) and comparing it to both 'exact' simulation results (Tassopoulos and Rosner, 1991b) and experimental data (Koh, 1971).