An advanced approach for the generation of complex cellular material representative volume elements using distance fields and level sets

A general and widely tunable method for the generation of representative volume elements for cellular materials based on distance and level set functions is presented. The approach is based on random tessellations constructed from random inclusion packings. A general methodology to obtain arbitrary-shaped tessellations to produce disordered foams is presented and illustrated. These tessellations can degenerate either in classical Vorono < tessellations potentially additively weighted depending on properties of the initial inclusion packing used, or in Laguerre tessellations through a simple modification of the formulation. A versatile approach to control the particular morphology of the obtained foam is introduced. Specific local features such as concave triangular Plateau borders and non-constant thickness heterogeneous coatings can be built from the tessellation in a straightforward way and are tuned by a small set of parameters with a clear morphological interpretation.