Microscale packing structure in a material impacts macro-scopic behavior such as heat-transfer rates, flow maldistribution, and mechanical properties. Effective methods for characterizing packing structure are a first step toward establishing links between these two important scales.

We use both computer-generated and real materials to gain insight into factors such as orientational ordering of particles, wall effects, spatial correlations in structure, and the effects of particle shape and size distribution on density limits. Particle-scale data sets are also used as the framework for computational modeling modeling of flow, transport, and mechanical properties in these materials. Simulations of this type provide important information about the relationship between packing structure and macroscopic behavior.