SIMULATION OF OPEN MICROCELLULAR CARBON FOAMS: PERIODIC AND APERIODIC STRUCTURES

A periodic structure is presented that can represent medium-to-high porosity open-cellular spherical void phase carbon foams. A mathematical expression is developed that relates the porosity of the structure to the void diameter and the unit cell dimension. Next, an algorithm capable of simulating the random structure of open-cellular carbon foams with spherical inclusions was developed. The influence of the physical topological parameters on foam porosity and randomness was evaluated. A Monte Carlo method is presented for approximating the porosity and specific surface areas in the heterogeneous foam representations. The results of the Monte Carlo method are in good agreement with three-dimensional models generated by computer-aided design and an image processing technique in the literature.