Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Materials Science and Engineering
A note on the instability and pattern formation of shrinkage cracks in viscoplastic soils
Published: 2019-11-08
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering
In this note we present a theoretical study on the conditions for the onset of cracks, as well as the corresponding pattern formation, in saturated viscoplastic soils under isotropic loading (extension). The type of stress applied is left unspecified, to cover a variety of loadings including shrinkage due to dessication, isotropic thermal expansion, mechanical loading and so forth. By treating [...]
Imbibition in porous media: correlations of displacement events with pore-throat geometry and the identification of a new type of pore snap-off
Published: 2019-08-23
Subjects: Chemical Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Complex Fluids, Dynamics and Dynamical Systems, Engineering, Engineering Science and Materials, Environmental Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Mechanics of Materials, Petroleum Engineering, Transport Phenomena
The displacement of a non-wetting fluid by a wetting fluid in porous media, called imbibition, is important in many natural and industrial processes. During imbibition, the wetting fluid invades the pore space through a series of competitions between piston-like displacement, film and corner flow, snap-off, pore bypassing and trapping. Our understanding of these fundamental pore-scale [...]
A Temperature- and Pressure-Sensitive Visco-Plasticity Theory based on Interface Mechanisms for Sedimentary Rocks
Published: 2019-05-24
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Other Materials Science and Engineering
Constitutive modelling in geotechnical engineering and applied earth sciences is facing the challenge of assessing the long-term potential of both man-made and natural geohazards. This involves designing engineering operations for length scales and timescales well beyond those observable in the laboratory. In order to bridge the gap between scales, study rock behaviours well beyond their yield [...]
A spatially resolved fluid-solid interaction model for dense granular packs/Soft-Sand.
Published: 2019-05-09
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Fluid flow through dense granular packs or soft sands can be described as a Darcy s flow for low injection rates, as the friction between grain-grain and grain-walls dominate the solid system behaviour. For high injection rates, fluid forces can generate grain displacement forming flow channels or ``fractures, which in turn modify local properties within the system, such as permeability and [...]