Wave propagation in granular materials is one of the most fundamental problems in mechanics and physics, with both scientific fascination and practical importance. Whether elastic waves in granular media are affected by particle morphology and, if yes, how they are affected remain open questions. Here we present a novel grain-scale model to address these fundamental questions. Efficient techniques are incorporated in the model to cope with a huge number of non-spherical particles which are randomly packed to propagate elastic waves. The variability of particle shape is mathematically described using the superquadric function and a family of geometric shapes is produced so that a systematic investigation of the effect of particle shape becomes viable. The difficulty with the detection of particle contacts that are represented by nonlinear Hertzian contact law is tackled using an efficient algorithm. A marked finding from the multiple series of simulations using this new model is that: an increase in the aspect ratio of particles (i.e. particles changing from spherical to ellipsoidal) leads to a notable rise in the elastic wave velocity, for both compression and shear waves, whereas for non-spherical particles with a given aspect ratio, an increased particle blockiness causes a moderate reduction in the wave velocity. Moreover, it is found that an assembly of particles with higher aspect ratio is associated with a broader range of transmitted frequencies while an assembly of particles with magnified blockiness holds back the conduction of higher frequencies. Based on statistical analyses, we further show that the transition from spherical to non-spherical particles is associated with a broader range of void ratios and increased coordination numbers whereas inflated blockiness brings an opposite impact, and these changes are linked with the observed effect of particle shape on the characteristics of elastic waves, in both time and frequency domains.

颗粒材料中的波传播是力学和物理学中最基本的问题之一，具有科学魅力和实际意义。颗粒介质中的弹性波是否受颗​​粒形态的影响，如果是，它们如何受到影响仍然是一个悬而未决的问题。在这里，我们提出了一种新的粒度模型来解决这些基本问题。模型中采用了有效的技术来处理大量随机堆积以传播弹性波的非球形粒子。使用超二次函数以数学方式描述颗粒形状的可变性，并产生一系列几何形状，以便对颗粒形状的影响进行系统研究变得可行。使用有效的算法解决了检测由非线性赫兹接触定律表示的粒子接触的困难。使用这个新模型的多个系列模拟的一个显着发现是：粒子纵横比的增加（即粒子从球形变为椭圆形）导致弹性波速度显着增加，对于压缩波和剪切波，而对于具有给定纵横比的非球形颗粒，增加的颗粒块度会导致波速适度降低。此外，发现具有更高纵横比的粒子组合与更广泛的传输频率相关，而具有放大阻塞性的粒子组合阻止了更高频率的传导。根据统计分析，