Spherical Harmonic-Based Random Fields for Shot-Earth Material

Recent research has focused on soil-based materials for construction, which, despite their ancient origins, offer significant potential for sustainable building, particularly in cost-effectiveness and waste management. Shot-earth stands out as a promising material, but its irregular inclusions make mechanical characterization challenging. This study develops a methodology to generate synthetic shot-earth specimens consistent with experimental data. Central to this approach is a random field model that captures the geometry of inclusions, defined as the distance from an inclusion’s center of mass to its surface in spherical coordinates. This model improves upon traditional methods that represent inclusions as spheres or ellipsoids. Calibration is based on X-ray micro-CT scans of cubic shot-earth samples. The performance of the model is evaluated using Monte Carlo simulations and comparison with real data.