DEM simulation of experimental dense granular packing

Abstract

In this study we present numerical analysis performed on the experimental results of sphere packings of mono-sized hard sphere whose packing fraction spans across a wide range of 0.59<<0.72. Using X-ray Computed Tomography (XCT), we have full access to the 3D structure of the granular packings. Numerical analysis performed on thr data provides the first experimental proofs of how densification affects local order parameters. Furthermore by combining Discrete Element Method (DEM) and the experimental results from XCT, we investigate how the intergranular forces change with the onset of crystallization.