Abstract
The accurate estimation of hydraulic conductivity is important for many geotechnical engineering applications, as the presence of fluids affects all aspects of soil behaviour, including its strength. Darcy's law is the key experimental (or phenomenological) equation employed to model ground water flow. Yet, this phenomenological equation can be linked to a more fundamental microscale model of flow through the pore spaces of the porous material. This paper provides an experimental verification of the relationships between Darcy's law (macroscale) and the Navier-Stokes equations (microscale) for actual complex pore geometries of a granular material. The pore geometries are experimentally obtained through state-of-the-art X-ray computer assisted micro-tomography. From the numerical modelling of the microscale flow based on actual pore geometries, it is possible to quantify and visualize the development of pore-scale fluid preferential flow-paths through the porous material, and to assess the importance of pore connectivity in soil transport properties.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1200-1206 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Computers and Geotechnics |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2009 Sept |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Support for this research was provided by the Australian Research Council (ARC-DP0451576). X-ray micro-CT data were obtained by Dr. Alan Jones at the Electron Microscopy Unit (EMU), The University of Sydney. Dr. Neil Killeen and Prof. Gary Egan provided assistance with the High Performance Computing performed at The University of Melbourne, which is gratefully acknowledged.
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Geotechnical Engineering and Engineering Geology
- Computer Science Applications