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Related Experiment Videos

Experiments on random packings of ellipsoids.

Weining Man1, Aleksandar Donev, Frank H Stillinger

  • 1Department of Physics, Princeton University, New Jersey 08544, USA.

Physical Review Letters
|August 11, 2005
PubMed
Summary

Ellipsoids can achieve dense random packings, rivaling the densest crystal packing of spheres. Experiments confirm these simulations, showing ellipsoidal packing fractions near 74%.

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Area of Science:

  • Materials Science
  • Physics
  • Computational Science

Background:

  • Simulations suggest ellipsoids can pack more densely than spheres.
  • Specific axes ratios approach the densest crystal packing (fcc) of spheres.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To demonstrate the realizability of dense ellipsoidal packings.
  • To introduce a novel method for measuring packing density in finite samples.
  • To validate simulation predictions experimentally.

Main Methods:

  • Fabrication of ellipsoids.
  • Measurement of packing fraction using fluid displacement (V(h)).
  • Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for radial packing fraction (phi(r)).

Main Results:

Related Experiment Videos

  • Experimental packing fractions agree with simulation predictions.
  • Core packing density phi(0) measured at 0.74 +/- 0.005.
  • Novel method effectively minimizes surface effects in density measurements.

Conclusions:

  • Dense random packings of ellipsoids are experimentally achievable.
  • Ellipsoidal packing can reach densities comparable to the densest sphere packings.
  • The developed methods provide accurate packing density measurements for finite samples.