Application of Topological Data Analysis to Elucidate the Mechanical Behavior of Powders

Abstract

Persistent homology has the potential to extract diverse information from data and discover physical laws and relationships hidden in the data. It has been used in powder engineering and is a valuable tool to support the description of the mechanical behavior of powders. Applied to the packing structure of powder compacts, quantitative evaluation of the three-dimensional structure is available, and the inhomogeneity of the structure can be quantified. A new empirical equation was proposed which can predict the relationship between the elastic modulus and the water saturation considering structural homogeneity, specific surface area, surface tension, and porosity as the main factors affecting the elastic modulus in the partially saturated state.