A new algorithm for dense ellipse packing and polygonal structures generation in context of FEM or DEM

International audienceA new constructive ellipse packing algorithm is presented. It allows to respect the imposed area, shape and spatial orientation distribution (i.e. the inertia tensor) and achieve high packing densities. The packing density decreases with increasing particles aspect ratio what is in agreement with results reported in the literature. The generated packings with complex imposed area, shape and spatial orientation distributions with densities in the range of 0.74 and 0.8 are presented. The efficiency of the algorithm is demonstrated by comparison with the Optimized Dropping and Rolling method for disk packing. Moreover, the proposed packing strategy enables to generate very easily non-equiaxed polygonal structures by using Laguerre-Voronoï tessellation of the generated disk-based ellipse packing