The structural models of gels typically reported concentrate either on
the ''solid space'' or the ''pore space'' of the system. The models d
escribed in this paper present a connection between grain and pore spa
ces, applicable to dense gels with uniform particulate microstructure.
The gel structure is depicted as a hierarchy at several levels by mea
ns of models built up using the Monte-Carlo technique, on the basis of
random close packing (RCP) premises. The pore volume distributions ar
e calculated from the largest sphere radius inscribed within the inter
stices. These distributions are compared to the pore volume distributi
ons of various RCP classic models and to the pore volume distributions
of a series of xerogels measured by means of the Brunauer-Emmett-Tell
er method. Data on the pore volumes associated with different hierarch
ical levels (e.g., micro-, meso-, or macropores), the local density of
the i-th aggregation level and packing of the successive levels are o
btained.