Coordination Number of Ternary Mixtures of Spheres†

This paper presents an experimental study of the coordination number of ternary mixtures of particles of sizes 24.4 : 11.6 : 6.4 (mm) by the use of the liquid bridge technique. It generates detailed information about the distributed coordination numbers corresponding to different types of contacts between small, medium and large components. The analysis is focused on the mean coordination numbers corresponding to these contacts. The results indicate that these partial mean coordination numbers vary with the volume fractions of the components while the overall mean coordination number is essentially a constant and independent of particle size distribution.