Using surface asperities for efficient random particle overlap detection in the generation of randomly oriented and located particle arrangements

A novel method of detecting overlap between two irregularly shaped virtual particles whose surfaces are described by analytical functions is presented in this study. Utilizing the analytical equation that describes the surface of the particle, the first and second spatial derivatives are used to locate the major surface asperities via the surface curvature. During the particle placement process, detecting overlap between two particles is a crucial, but slow, step. While the asperity check does not detect all cases of overlap between two particles, it leverages the probability that overlap is most likely to occur at a surface asperity. Microstructures are generated using four particle size gradations and three volume fractions to demonstrate the decreased computational time associated with using the asperity overlap detection versus a brute force method. This overlap detection method provides significant increases in efficiency, averaging a speedup of 10 when generating a 40% volume fraction microstructure.