Analysis of the packing structure of mixtures of disks

This paper presents a study of the pore characteristics of the packing of disks by using three computer simulation algorithms: deposition under gravity (DG), random sequential adsorption, and Mason's algorithm. A pore is regarded as corresponding to a triangular subunit obtained from the Voronoi tessellation for monosized packing or radical tessellation for multisized packing, and its size and shape are respectively quantified in terms of equivalent circular diameter and circularity. The results indicate that both pore size and shape distributions are significantly affected by the simulation method, which are considered to be related to the packing constraints imposed in the simulation algorithms. Studies of the DG packing of binary mixtures suggest that the disk size distribution significantly affects packing density, a typical macroscopic property, and microscopic properties such as pore size and shape distributions. Attempts have-been made to explain the results in terms of packing mechanisms for packing density and geometrical properties for pore characteristics.