Welcome to the PackingGeneration project

The program allows hard-sphere packing generation and packing post-processing (see the sphere packing and the random-close packing wikipedia pages).

It supports the Lubachevsky–Stillinger, Jodrey–Tory, and force-biased generation algorithms; it can calculate the particle insertion probability, Steinhardt Q6 global and local order measures, coordination numbers for non-rattler particles, pair correlation function, structure factor, and reduced pressure after pressure equilibration. It doesn't require any preinstalled libraries and is multiplatform (Windows/nix).

It was developed by me (Vasili Baranau) while doing research on hard-sphere packings in the group of Prof. Ulrich Tallarek in Marburg, Germany, in 2012-2013. It is distributed under the MIT license (see LICENSE.txt). This code (release v1.0.1.28) has a DOI: .

If you use this program in research projects, please cite the paper Baranau and Tallarek (2017) Another resolution of the configurational entropy paradox as applied to hard spheres, doi:10.1063/1.4999483. Or, alternatively, Baranau and Tallarek (2021) Beyond Salsburg–Wood: Glass equation of state for polydisperse hard spheres, doi:10.1063/5.0036411.

Sample generated packings look like this:

Left: a monodisperse packing of 10000 particles; taken from Fig. 1 in Baranau et al., 2016. Right: a polydisperse packing of 10000 particles; taken from Fig. 1 in Baranau and Tallarek, 2014.

For program options and basic usage, please read further.

For building the program, please read the Compilation wiki page or the Docs/Compilation.txt source file.

If you would like to understand the code or update it, please read the Architecture wiki page or the Docs/Architecture.txt source file.

This code was initialy hosted on Google Code, before Google closed the Google Code hosting.

Main links in the project

1. This page, below : program options, their description, and basic usage
2. Latest release
3. Wiki
4. Example: Sample files, used and produced by the program
5. Matlab scripts for reading resulting packings (the main script file)

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Table of contents for the contents below:

1. Program execution
2. Packing generation
3. Post-processing
4. Sample usage

1. Program execution

The program will examine the current folder and all its subfolders recursively for the file generation.conf and run generation (or post-processing) algorithm for each of these files.

All the packing generation and post-processing algorithms are serial (non-parallel).

If the program is compiled and is run as an MPI application (see the compilation wiki page or Docs/Compilation.txt), the packings to be generated or analyzed will be distributed randomly and evenly by MPI processes (some supercomputers do not allow single process program runs, some may simply have higher priority for MPI jobs).

There is no automatic dynamic rebalancing of packings between processes in the current version of the program.

The program doesn't write log to a file automatically, use nix pipes instead, e.g., PackingGeneration.exe > log.txt or PackingGeneration.exe | tee log.txt.

1.1. Packing file format

The program will read and write all the packings in the following file format: It should be a binary file which stores sequentially sphere center x, y, z coordinates and diameter for each particle as floating points in double precision in little-endian byte order. If the machine on which the program is being run is big-endian, the program will detect it and will still read and write in little-endian format.

1.2. generation.conf format (see also the Examples folder)

Particles count: 10000
Packing size: 20.0823593086113 20.0823593086113 20.0823593086113
Generation start: 0
Seed: 341
Steps to write: 1000
Boundaries mode: 1
Contraction rate: 1.328910e-002
Generation mode: 1

1. boundaries mode: 1 - bulk; 2 - ellipse (inscribed in XYZ box, Z is length of an ellipse); 3 - rectangle
   
2. generationMode = 1 (Poisson, R) or 2 (Poisson in cells, S)
   

1.3. Parameter description

All floating-point parameters support exponential and decimal notations (%g format in printf).

1. Particles count: particles count in the packing.

2. Packing size: the size of the box where particles reside.

3. Generation start: if the usage of a pregenerated packing is specified (Generation start: 0), the program will expect a file packing.xyzd along with each generation.conf file; otherwise (Generation start: 1) the program will generate a poisson packing as initial configuration. If a packing should be generated, you may also supply a text file with particle diameters (one diameter per line), diameters.txt. If such a file is not provided, all particle diameters will be set to 1.0.

4. Seed : seed used for any random number generations (e.g., initial particle positions or particle velocities).

5. Steps to write: during the generation and when it is finished the packing.xyzd will be overwritten with a current packing state. The amount of algorithm iterations between writing a temporary state is specified by the Steps to write parameter in generation.conf.

6. Boundaries mode: currently just the bulk mode is supported (box which is periodic by all dimensions), so always use 1.

7. Contraction rate: the only variable parameter for all of the algorithms.

8. Generation mode: specifies which algorithm for initial packing generation to use, 1 (Poisson, R) or 2 (Poisson in cells, S). See Khirevich et al. (2010) Statistical analysis of packed beds, the origin of short-range disorder, and its impact on eddy dispersion, doi:10.1016/j.chroma.2010.05.019 for details. This is the only optional parameter.

Post-processing algorithms will use only Particles count, Packing size, Seed, Boundaries mode parameters.

1.4. Note on final diameters

If you specify the desired diameters through diameters.txt or packing.xyzd, this does not mean that the final packing will possess them. The final diameters will only be proportional to them. I.e., you specify the diameters up to a constant scaling factor (unknown before generation).

In general, at the beginning of generation all algorithms select some initial scaling factor to make the closest pair of particles touch each other (this scaling factor will be small for Poisson configurations). Then, they gradually increase this scaling factor during the generation until the termination criterion is met. The final scaling factor will usually be below unity. For the force-biased algorithm, it is always below or very slightly above unity. For the Lubachevsky–Stillinger algorithm, it can in principle also reach values higher than unity (but when starting the generation from the Poisson configuration, it will almost always be below unity at the end).

In case of the Lubachevsky–Stillinger algorithm, the final scaling factor is determined by the contraction rate (the lower the rate, the larger the final diameters). In case of the force-biased algorithm, the final scaling factor is determined by the contraction rate and indirectly by the original (expected, theoretical) diameters (more precisely, by the original packing density as expected from the original diameters). The higher the original density, the higher the final density. The lower the contraction rate, the closer the final density is to the original density. See the papers in the descriptions of the algorithms below for details.

You can find the dependence of the final packing density on the contraction rate for packings with different radii distributions (monodisperse and log-normal with relative standard deviations 0.05-0.3) for the Lubachevsky–Stillinger and force-biased algorithms in Figs. 2a and c in Baranau and Tallarek, (2014). Please note that the plot for the FB algorithm assumes a certain dependence of expected packings densities φ_exp on the contraction rate γ: φ_exp = φ_min + (φ_max - φ_min) / (lnγ_slow - lnγ_fast) * (lnγ_fast - lnγ). It is basically a line in the plane (lnγ, φ_exp) through the points (lnγ_fast, φ_min) and (lnγ_slow, φ_max), where the following parameters were used: γ_fast = 10^-3, φ_min = 0.6, γ_slow = 10^-7, φ_max = 0.7.

2. Packing generation

After a successful packing generation the program will write an additional file packing.nfo with packing generation statistics. At the end of every generation the program searches for the closest pair of particles by the most naive implementation (two nested cycles by particles). If the program finds a pair of particles that are closer than expected by the generation algorithm, the generation is not successful, an error is issued and packing.nfo is not saved.

2.1. Note on final diameters

As mentioned, the final diameters after generation will only be proportinal to the original ones. The final packing file will store correct particle centers, but due to historical reasons i do not scale the diameters in the output packing file with the final scaling factor. I.e., they will be the same as in the diameters.txt or the original packing.xyzd (if they were present). You have to scale the diameters manually as explained in the script for reading packings. Basically, you have to multiply the diameters by (finalDensity / theoreticalDensity)^(1/3) = ((1 - finalPorosity) / (1 - theoreticalPorosity))^(1/3) where the values of finalPorosity and theoreticalPorosity can be taken from the packing.nfo file.

At the same time, because all generation algorithms select the initial scaling factor (prior to generation) to make the closest pair of particles touch each other, you may run one generation algorithm after another without manually rescaling the diameters, because the proper initial scaling factor will anyway be ensured.

2.2. Program usage and options for generation

1. PackingGeneration.exe: uses Lubachevsky–Stillinger algorithm. See Lubachevsky, Stillinger (1990) Geometric properties of random disk packings, doi:10.1007/BF01025983; or Lubachevsky (1990) How to Simulate Billiards and Similar Systems, doi:10.1016/0021-9991(91)90222-7; or Skoge (2006) Packing hyperspheres in high-dimensional Euclidean spaces, doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.74.041127. NOTE: The Lubachevsky–Stillinger code will work correctly only when the initial packing has relatively large density (0.4 - 0.6), otherwise collisions with far particles will be missed, because far particles will not be included as possible neighbors by cell list or verlet list algorithms. Therefore i used the following procedure: generated packings with the force-biased algorithm (see below) for densities 0.4-0.6, then called the Lubachevsky–Stillinger algorithm. The same applies for the two other Lubachevsky–Stillinger variations below (-lsgd and -lsebc).

2. PackingGeneration.exe -ls: same Lubachevsky–Stillinger.

3. -fba: force-biased algorithm. See Mościński et al (1989) The Force-Biased Algorithm for the Irregular Close Packing of Equal Hard Spheres, doi:10.1080/08927028908031373; Bezrukov et al (2002) Statistical Analysis of Simulated Random Packings of Spheres, doi:10.1002/1521-4117(200205)19:2<111::AID-PPSC111>3.0.CO;2-M (yes, that's the real doi).

4. -lsgd: Lubachevsky–Stillinger with gradual densification: the LS generation is run until the non-equilibrium reduced pressure is high enough (e.g., a conventional value of 1e12), then compression rate is decreased (devided by 2) and the LS generation is run again, until the pressure is high enough again; this procedure is repeated until the compression rate is low enough (1e-4). See Baranau and Tallarek (2014) Random-close packing limits for monodisperse and polydisperse hard spheres, doi:10.1039/C3SM52959B.

5. -lsebc: Lubachevsky–Stillinger with equilibration between compressions, we modified the LS generation procedure and after each 20 collisions for each particle with compression we completely equilibrate the packings. The equilibration is done by performing sets of 20 collisions for each particle with zero compression rate in a loop until the relative difference of reduced pressures in the last two sets is less than 1%, so the pressure is stationary. When a packing is equilibrated we perform collisions with compression again. See Baranau et al (2013) Pore-size entropy of random hard-sphere packings, doi:10.1039/C3SM27374A.

NOTE: algorithms below have not been used by me for a long time and may not work well in some special cases. If packings contain large intersections after generation, an error will be issued, so you won't get incorrect results, but may still lose time. Anyway, original Jodrey–Tory and Jodrey–Tory modification by Khirevich are much slower than LS and FBA and can't produce dense packings.

6. -ojt: original Jodrey–Tory algorithm. See Jodrey and Tory (1985) Computer simulation of close random packing of equal spheres, doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.32.2347; Bargieł and Mościński (1991) C-language program for the irregular close packing of hard spheres, doi:10.1016/0010-4655(91)90060-X.

7. -kjt: Jodrey–Tory algorithm modification by Khirevich. See Khirevich et al. (2010) Statistical analysis of packed beds, the origin of short-range disorder, and its impact on eddy dispersion, doi:10.1016/j.chroma.2010.05.019.

NOTE: algorithms below most certainly do not work well at all. They are left here just for your information. If needed, you may test them, fix bugs, and use according to your own needs.

8. -mca: Monte Carlo algorithm. See Maier et al. (2008) Sensitivity of pore-scale dispersion to the construction of random bead packs, doi:200810.1029/2006WR005577. It produces highly crystalline packings.

9. -cja: Conjugate gradient. See paper Xu et. al. (2005) Random close packing revisited: Ways to pack frictionless disks, doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.71.061306 and other papers by O'Hern. This algorithm requires GNU Scientific library, and also some updates to compiling and linking options (see the compilation wiki page or Docs/Compilation.txt).

3. Post-processing

The program will run post-processing just in those packing folders, that contain packing.nfo files. To do the post processing after generation, you have to manually scale particle diameters after generation, as explained in the note on final diameters. Though it is not crucial for post-processing types that depend only on particle positions (like -directions or -order below).

Usage and options:

1. -radii [optional integer to specify radii count]: generates the radii of pores with randomply chosen center positions. The default pores count is 1e7 (therefore computation will consume several minutes). These radii can be later used to calculate particle insertion probability. See Baranau et al (2013) Pore-size entropy of random hard-sphere packings, doi:10.1039/C3SM27374A; or doi:10.1063/1.4953079. They are saved in a binary file insertion_radii.txt (as floating point numbers in double precision in little-endian byte order).

2. -entropy [optional integer to specify min radii count]: calculates the "pore-size entropy" at once by the formula (12) from Baranau et al. (2013) Pore-size entropy of random hard-sphere packings, doi:10.1039/C3SM27374A. The factor alpha is chosen as 2. The radii count is selected dynamically, so that adding 10000 pores changes the large pores quantity by no more than 1%. Optional integer will specify min pores quantity to generate, it's 1e7 by default (therefore computation will consume several minutes). Entropy is saved in a file entropy.txt (not as a binary float, just a simple text value). See also Baranau and Tallarek (2016), doi:10.1063/1.4953079.

3. -directions: calculates all unique directions between particles (uses closest periodic images for directions), saves it to a text file particle_directions.txt. It has five columns: zero-based first particle index, zero-based second particle index, x, y, z of the direction vector from the first particle center to the second particle center (of unity length).

4. -contraction: calculates energies of particle intersections after uniform packing contraction (or, equivalently, radii increases), as if particles were supplied with potential. Uses second-order harmonic potential (see Xu et al. (2005) Random close packing revisited: Ways to pack frictionless disks, doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.71.061306) and zero-order potential which is equivalent to calculating coordination number per particle. For jammed packings coordination number should be close to 6. Results are saved into a text file contraction_energies.txt with the following columns: contraction ratio (1 / strain rate), potential order (0 or 2), total energy, non-rattler particles count, energy per non-rattler particle. Contraction ratios (strain rates) are hardcoded, see the resulting file. For details of rattler removal see option -rm below.

5. -order: calculates global and local Q6 orders, saves them to a text file orders.txt. See Jin, Makse (2010) A first-order phase transition defines the random close packing of hard spheres, doi:10.1016/j.physa.2010.08.010.

6. -md [optional integer to specify number of LS steps]: conducts Lubachevscky-Stillinger simulation with zero contraction rate, i.e., molecular dynamics simulation. It tracks the reduced pressure, self-diffusion coefficient, full intermediate scattering function (ISF), and self-part of the ISF. Terminates when the pressure changes sufficiently slowly and the normalized full ISF crosses the critical value e^-1 at least ten times. The optional integer specifies the number of LS steps (each step is 20 collisions per particle). Some computed parameters are displayd in stdout as a log (thus, one can use -md | tee log.txt). Scattering function values are saved in the ScatteringFunctions folder. For more advanced options, refer to the source code (MolecularDynamicsStatistics.cpp, CalculateStationaryStatistics). At the end, saves the stationary reduced pressure into a text file molecular_dynamics_statistics.txt. You can supply this stationary pressure into the equation of state by Salsburg and Wood, if packing was close enough to jamming. See Salsburg and Wood (1962) Equation of State of Classical Hard Spheres at High Density, doi:10.1063/1.1733163.

7. -rm: removes rattler particles. Particle is a rattler if it has less than 4 contacts if the packing is uniformely contracted with a strain rate 1e-7. Rattlers are removed recursively (because new rattlers may appear after removing the first wave of rattlers). At some point this recursive process terminates. The program overwrites packing.xyzd, packing.nfo and generation.conf with a new packing.

8. -pc: computes pair correlation function, saves its values into a text file pair_correlation_function.txt. It has three columns: binLeftEdge, binParticleCount, pairCorrelationFunctionValue.

9. -sf: computes structure factor. For the exact method see Xu and Ching (2010) Effects of particle-size ratio on jamming of binary mixtures at zero temperature. This method doesn't require any Fourier transforms. The program saves structure factor values into structure_factor.txt, which contains 2 columns: waveVectorLength structureFactorValue.

NOTE: options below have not been used by me for a long time and most probably do not work well. They are left here just for your information. If needed, you may test them, fix bugs, and use according to your own needs.

10. -hessian: computes a hessian matrix (see Xu et. al. (2005) Random close packing revisited: Ways to pack frictionless disks, doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.71.061306). Writes the matrix to a text file hessian.txt. It requires LAPACK, and also some updates to compiling and linking options (see the compilation wiki page or Docs/Compilation.txt).

4. Sample usage

For a self-contained reproducer of a packing generation, please see this Google Colab notebook.

This section includes sample codes to do the following: generate initial force-biased algorithm packing, then create a packing with a Lubachevsky–Stillinger protocol, then find the closest jamming density for the LS packing by the LS with gradual densification protocol, then calculate Q6 local and global order for the final packing.

• PackingGeneration.exe -fba | tee log_fba.txt
• Delete or rename the packing.nfo file (see below)
• PackingGeneration.exe -ls | tee log_ls.txt
• Delete or rename the packing.nfo file (see below)
• PackingGeneration.exe -lsgd | tee log_lsgd.txt
• Rescale particle diameters as done in the MATLAB script and explained in the note on final diameters
• PackingGeneration.exe -order | tee log_entropy.txt

As explained in the note on final diameters, you can omit rescaling the packing between different generation steps (-fba, -ls, -lsgd) because each of them scales the packing prior to generation anyway. When using only the Q6 order measure (-order), you can actually omit rescaling the packing at all, because -order depends only on particle positions and not on diameters, but rescaling is needed in the general case.

You need to delete the packing.nfo file between re-generations because it is a marker file that says that generation was finished, and the program will skip generation in a folder where this file is present. It is a helpful feature if you run the program in a folder with multiple subfolders (different generation configurations, for example), and some of the generations are already finished and you don't need to run them again. Currently, the program doesn't report why it skips generation if packing.nfo is present, it just silently omits such folders.