How to generate the shape of a structure using particles

Hi,

I would like to ask how to model a structural shape using particles. It's easier to do it for the structure with a regular shape. However, for a steel plate with an irregular shape, I try to randomly generate particles (single sphere) to fill the geometry, however, there is a large gap exist between particles in EDEM. Therefore, is it possible to build this steel plate using clumps? Or there is other better approaches to achieve it? Moreover, are there any reference sources on the Altair EDEM website?

Many thanks in advance for your help!

Chao