Effects of network morphology on the failure stress of highly porous media

In this study four types of morphologies are generated to illustrate the importance of the details of the network structure in relation to its mechanical strength while keeping the density fixed. By varying the disorder parameter in a dynamical system of weakly interacting void-volume spheres, it is possible to generate various correlated node distributions. A network of springs is constructed from the correlated node distribution, which can be sued to examine the failure characteristics of materials that are not governed by systems commonly derived from regular spring networks. The structures of the various morphologies are characterized by the normalized radial distribution of the nodes. Within a single phase the correlation length is the predominant parameter that determines the failure stress of the network.