3d Monte Carlo simulation of site-bond continuum percolation of spheres

M. Rottereau; J.C. Gimel; T. Nicolai; D. Durand

doi:doi:10.1140/epje/i2003-10006-x

EPJ

3d Monte Carlo simulation of site-bond continuum percolation of spheres

M. Rottereau, J.C. Gimel, T. Nicolai and D. Durand

jean-christophe.gimel@univ-lemans.fr

Abstract
We present off-lattice Monte Carlo simulations of site-bond percolation of semi-penetrable spheres or, equivalently, of hard spheres with a finite bond range. We will show that the crucial parameter is the effective volume fraction ( $\phi_{\rm e}$ ), i.e. the volume that is occupied or within the bond range of at least one particle. For the equivalent system of semi-penetrable spheres $1-\phi_{\rm e}$ is the porosity. The bond percolation threshold ( $p_{\rm b}$ ) can be described in terms of $\phi_{\rm e}$ by a simple analytical expression: $\log(\phi_{\rm e})/\log(\phi_{\rm ec})+\log(p_{\rm b})/\log(p_{\rm bc})=1$ , with $p_{\rm bc}=0.12$ independent of the bond range and $\phi_{\rm ec}$ a constant that decreases with increasing bond range.

PACS

EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag 2003