GRAINS_tidal_physics

ABOUT

Creator:
Ethan R. Burnett, PhD
MSCA Postdoctoral Fellow, Politecnico di Milano

Project site:
https://zenodo.org/communities/faast-msca-sci/about

This archive provides a minimal representation of computations for reproducing a set of simulation figures from
"Exploring tidal dissipation in rubble pile binary secondaries using a discrete element model", arXiv, 2025.

Preprint DOI

TECHNICAL INFO

Contents
├── src/                                                minimal source code
├── binary_analysis_GRAINS.py       one-command reproducer
├── Data/                                             Data for reproducing the simulation analysis
├── Figures/                                        Target directory for figure saving
├── environment.yml                         Conda + pip dependency lock
├── LICENSE                                      MIT
└── CITATION.cff                               machine-readable citation metadata

Main scripts:
- binary_analysis_GRAINS.py, for parsing/organizing the GRAINS output data and performing all tidal calculations

Supporting files:
- src/config_calcs.py - Demonstrating calculations re: rescaling in GRAINS
- src/grains_data_handler.py - Supporting functions for reading the GRAINS output directory
- src/system_txt_handler.py - Functions for analyzing GRAINS system.txt files
- src/util_functions.py - Misc. functions used in other files

Data contents:
- results_SmallSSR - an output directory from GRAINS
- RubblePiles - a directory containing a single ShapeCutout sub-directory from GRAINS (not necessary for main script)

Use:
This code performs calculations based on the data outputs of GRAINS. GRAINS is a code for simulating granular mechanics-governed rubble pile asteroid systems, produced during the MSCA-PF of Fabio Ferrari, and expanded under the ERC Starting Grant TRACES.
New simulations cannot be produced without also installing GRAINS (distributed separately), although the calculations performed herein might still be of scientific use/interest.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE

Download the ZIP file and follow the README directions

CITING THIS PACKAGE

If you use this code in academic work, please cite **both** the article and this replication archive:

   Burnett, Ethan R., Fodde, Iosto, and Ferrari, Fabio (2025).
   Code & data for: Exploring tidal dissipation in rubble pile binary secondaries using a discrete element model (v1.0.0).
   Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15878761

Please also cite any original GRAINS works of relevance:

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11044-016-9547-2
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz3458
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2020.113871

DISCLAIMER

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. 

This is research code provided “as is”; expect academic-prototype style rather than production quality.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work was performed as part of the MSCA project "Facilitating Autonomy in Astrodynamics for Spacecraft Technology", Grant agreement ID: 101063274. We gratefully acknowledge technical and administrative support from the MSCA hosting organization: Department of Aerospace Science and Technology (DAER), Politecnico di Milano, Italy.

Key external software, GRAINS, produced by Fabio Ferrari. 

FAAST Grant Agreement ID: 101063274, DOI: https://doi.org/10.3030/101063274
GRAINS Grant Agreement ID: 800060, DOI: https://doi.org/10.3030/800060
TRACES Grant Agreement ID: 101077758, DOI: https://doi.org/10.3030/101077758