Discrete Element Modeling Based on Mathematical Morphology
Mark A. Hopkins · 2002
Discrete element modeling has generally used simple circular shapes such as two-dimensional disks and three-dimensional spheres and not so simple polygonal and polyhedral shapes. Contact detection ranges from trivial for disks and spheres to non-trivial for polygons and polyhedra. To deal with complex shapes while circumventing the complexities of contact detection some researchers have constructed complex particles from assemblies of spheres. This strategy results in a trade-off between contact simplicity and a large increase in the number of particles, contact searches, and particle contacts.