Figure 7.
The diagram displays two configurations of particle interactions. In section a, coarse particles, represented in grey, interconnect to show contact points while fine particles, shown in blue, participate in the force structure. Void spaces are indicated, and it notes that fines have negligible effects on the force structure. In section b, a similar particle arrangement is presented, but with additional red particles indicating another type of fine particles impacting the arrangement. Arrows are used to direct attention to the role of coarse particles and the position of voids, reinforcing the concept of how different particle sizes affect structural integrity.Schematic diagram showing particles arrangement of sand with fines (a) fc < fthre; and (b) fc > fthre