PRACTICAL DETERMINATION OF THE COORDINATION NUMBER IN GRANULAR MEDIA

Abstract

In a random stacking of particles, the coordination number is defined as the mean number of particles touching a given one. A classical measurement by image analysis is directly based on this definition. It can be applied in the theoretical case of a global analysis but some problems occur for practical applications. We propose here a new measurement method based on the contribution to the Euler-Poincaré characteristic. A single measurement is performed both on the initial structure (particles linked by contacts) and on the segmented structure (isolated particles). The proposed method is robust w.r.t. the shape of the particles and their contacts.