Numerical Modelling of Swelling Pressure in Unsaturated Expansive Elasto-Plastic Porous Media

The focus of this work is to provide a new concept for accessing the swelling stress in expansive porous media, especially in highly compacted bentonite. The key to the new approach is the simulation with a chemical swelling model of an infinitesimal volume change followed by a back compaction Process. Free extension is allowed in the first step, to calculate the interlayer porosity change (micro) and the induced volume change potential (macro). The object-oriented FEM simulator GeoSys/RockFlow allows the combination of different processes. The hydro-mechanic/chemical (H²M/C) model takes into consideration two phase flow and deformation, as well as chemical swelling effects. The negative displacements on each boundary after the free extension simulation are taken as Dirichlet boundary conditions of the back compaction problem. The deformation step is simulated in the context of elasto-plasticity using the modified Cam-Clay model. The stresses obtained by back compaction represent the swelling pressure. A 2D example of compacted bentonite is analyzed with the new H²M/C model.     

砂-膨润土混合屏障材料渗透性影响因素研究

建立了一个新的结构-尾流振子耦合模型. 流场近尾迹动力学特征被模化为非线性阻尼 振子,采用van der Pol方程描述. 以控制体中结构与近尾迹流体间受力互为反作 用关系来实现流固耦合. 采用该模型进行了二维结构涡激振动计算,得到了合理的 振幅随来流流速的变化规律和共振幅值,并正确地预计了共振振幅值$A_{\max}^\ast$ 随着质量阻尼参数$\left( {m^\ast + C_A } \right)\zeta $的变化规律,给出了预测$A_{\max }^\ast $值的拟合公式. 采用该模型计算了三维柔性结构在均匀来流和简谐波形来流作用下的VIV 响应. 结构在均匀来流作用下振动呈现由驻波向行波的变化过程, 并最后稳定为行波振动形态. 在简谐波形来流作用下,结构呈现混合振动形态,幅值随时间呈周期变化.     

Micromechanical computational modeling of expansive porous media

A modified Terzaghi principle is proposed to describe the influence of locally coupled electro-chemo-mechanical processes in highly compacted swelling clays upon the form of the macroscopic modified effective stress principle. The two-scale model is derived using the homogenization procedure to upscale the microscopic behavior of a two-phase system composed of clay particles saturated by a completely dissociated electrolyte aqueous solution. Numerical experiments are performed to illustrate the results in a particular cell geometry. To cite this article: M.A. Murad, C. Moyne, C. R. Mecanique 330 (2002) 865–870.     

Monitoring of Pollutant Diffusion into Clay Liners by Electrical Methods

A non-destructive test was carried out on a liner material—sand bentonite mixture (SB) with a continuous concentration diffusion of NaCl electrolyte. The work reported studied the spacio-temporal variation of the electrical conductivity $\sigma ^{*}_{\mathrm{s}}$ (z, t) in a diffusion soil column with different heights. A relationship between the interstitial pore fluid concentration of SB and the electrical conductivity of the solution has been established by mixing and compacting samples of sand bentonite with NaCl electrolytes at different concentrations. Electrical conductivity of compacted specimens was measured with a two-electrode cell. The conductivity measurements were used to quantify the pore fluid concentration and effective diffusion coefficient of SB liners. It is concluded here that the electrical conductivity of compacted specimens depends mainly on the salt concentration in the pore fluid and it could be used to measure ionic movement through liners during diffusion. The experimental diffusion coefficient reached theoretical diffusion coefficient when sample height is equal to 40 cm.     

An empirical model for the thermal conductivity of compacted bentonite and a bentonite–sand mixture

The thermal conductivities of compacted bentonite and a bentonite–sand mixture were measured to investigate the effects of dry density, water content and sand fraction on the thermal conductivity. A single expression has been proposed to describe the thermal conductivity of the compacted bentonite and the bentonite–sand mixture once their primary parameters such as dry density, water content and sand fraction are known.     

Thermomechanics of Porous Media - I: Thermohydraulic Model for Compacted Bentonite

A general thermomechanical model is derived for a mixture. The model describes the behavior of the mixture via proper choices of free energy and dissipation function. A model for any combination of the mixture constituents can be reduced from the general model. The theory is applied to a thermohydraulic model for a mixture of compacted bentonite, liquid water, vapor, and air with the assumption of rigid skeleton and constant uniform porosity. The free energy of the system is chosen to take into account the individual nondissipative behaviors of the constituents and their mutual interactions, namely, adsorption and mixing of the gaseous constituents. The choices for the interaction terms are based on the equilibrium conditions for the water species in different combinations of the constituents. The resulting thermodynamically consistent macroscopic model is fitted to a suction experiment and applied to a simple one-dimensional thermohydraulic simulation of the bentonite buffer of the Febex in situ test. The results calculated with finite element method are successfully compared to measurements.     

A Two-Scale Model for Coupled Electro-Chemo-Mechanical Phenomena and Onsager’s Reciprocity Relations in Expansive Clays: II Computational Validation

In Part I Moyne and Murad [Transport in Porous Media 62, (2006), 333–380] a two-scale model of coupled electro-chemo-mechanical phenomena in swelling porous media was derived by a formal asymptotic homogenization analysis. The microscopic portrait of the model consists of a two-phase system composed of an electrolyte solution and colloidal clay particles. The movement of the liquid at the microscale is ruled by the modified Stokes problem; the advection, diffusion and electro-migration of monovalent ions Na⁺ and Cl⁻ are governed by the Nernst–Planck equations and the local electric potential distribution is dictated by the Poisson problem. The microscopic governing equations in the fluid domain are coupled with the elasticity problem for the clay particles through boundary conditions on the solid–fluid interface. The up-scaling procedure led to a macroscopic model based on Onsager’s reciprocity relations coupled with a modified form of Terzaghi’s effective stress principle including an additional swelling stress component. A notable consequence of the two-scale framework are the new closure problems derived for the macroscopic electro-chemo-mechanical parameters. Such local representation bridge the gap between the macroscopic Thermodynamics of Irreversible Processes and microscopic Electro-Hydrodynamics by establishing a direct correlation between the magnitude of the effective properties and the electrical double layer potential, whose local distribution is governed by a microscale Poisson–Boltzmann equation. The purpose of this paper is to validate computationally the two-scale model and to introduce new concepts inherent to the problem considering a particular form of microstructure wherein the clay fabric is composed of parallel particles of face-to-face contact. By discretizing the local Poisson–Boltzmann equation and solving numerically the closure problems, the constitutive behavior of the diffusion coefficients of cations and anions, chemico-osmotic and electro-osmotic conductivities in Darcy’s law, Onsager’s parameters, swelling pressure, electro-chemical compressibility, surface tension, primary/secondary electroviscous effects and the reflection coefficient are computed for a range particle distances and sat concentrations.     

Chemo-hydro-mechanical coupled consolidation for a poroelastic clay buffer in a radioactive waste repository

Salt rock or rock with salty ground water are often encountered as host media for the underground disposal of radioactive waste. The nuclear waste, contained in a metallic canister, is usually placed inside a tunnel or a shaft excavated in the rock deposit together with a buffer of compacted bentonite inserted between the host rock and the canister to provide hydro-mechanical sealing. Due to the very low permeability and rich clay content, the bentonite acts as an osmotic semi-permeable membrane under a gradient of concentration of salt dissolved in the ground water. In addition, chemically induced expansion or shrinkage of the bentonite is generated by changes in the concentration of dissolved salt. By including such important chemical aspects, the hydro-mechanical governing equations are derived for this particular boundary value problem within the framework of a linear Biot-like isotropic poroelastic consolidation. The equations are solved analytically and a parametric study is undertaken to highlight the influence of chemical osmosis and chemical deformation on the flow and mechanical response of the bentonite buffer.     

Study of the swelling behavior of a compacted soil using flexible odometer

This paper includes an experimental study of the swelling behavior of a compacted soil. The study is performed using a flexible odometer, which allows for lateral deformation during soil expansion and the measurement of the lateral swell pressure. The paper is composed of two parts. The first one describes the flexible device used in this study while the second presents experimental results and discusses the influence of the rigidity of the odometer ring on the swelling behavior of a compacted soil.     

Heat,Water, and Solute Transfer in Unsaturated Porous Mdeia: II -- Compacted Soil Beneath Plastic Cover

Soil surface dynamics involve coupled transferof heat, water, and solute. An experimental andtheoretical study of heat, water, and solute transferin closed compacted soil columns under surfacetemperature wave amplitudes is presented. Thetemperature wave amplitudes ranged from 17.9 to 21.0°C. Potassium chloride solution was used tomoisten Clarinda clay and Fayette silty clay loamsoils. Initial water contents of 0.403 and 0.279 andinitial solute concentrations of 0.062 and 0.052 mol kg^-1were used in Clarinda and Fayette soils,respectively. The moistened soils were packed andcompacted in PVC columns (0.075 m diameter and 0.30 mhigh). Bulk densities of the compacted Clarinda andFayette soils were 1403 and 1585 kg m^-3,respectively. The columns were buried in soil suchthat column surfaces were exposed to natural as wellas artificial radiation and thermal conditions. Thecoupled nonsteady-state balance equations of mass andenergy were solved numerically to predict soiltemperature, water content, and solute concentrationdistributions. The theoretical model described soiltemperature, water content, and solute concentrationwell as compared with the measured values. TheFickian diffusive solute flux was one or two orders ofmagnitude greater than salt-sieving and thermal-diffusion solute fluxes.     

Comportement hydromécanique d'un sol gonflant compacté sous très fortes succionsHydromechanical behaviour of a compacted swelling soil under very high suctions

This paper presents a study performed on a compacted swelling material in the range of suctions comprised between 8.5 and 287.9 MPa. Two series of tests were carried out with suction controlled oedometers. The aim of the first series was to study the compressibility as a function of suction. It showed that the apparent preconsolidation pressure and the plastic compression line are greatly affected by the applied suctions. The other series of tests highlighted the influence of complex hydromechanical paths on the compressibility of the studied material that appeared to be greatly influenced by the stress path followed. To cite this article: O. Cuisinier, F. Masrouri, C. R. Mecanique 331 (2003).     

A New Coal-Permeability Model: Internal Swelling Stress and Fracture–Matrix Interaction

We have developed a new coal-permeability model for uniaxial strain and constant confining-stress conditions. The model is unique in that it explicitly considers fracture–matrix interaction during coal-deformation processes and is based on a newly proposed internal swelling stress concept. This concept is used to account for the impact of matrix swelling (or shrinkage) on fracture-aperture changes resulting from partial separation of matrix blocks by fractures that do not completely cut through the whole matrix. The proposed permeability model is evaluated using data from three Valencia Canyon coalbed wells in the San Juan Basin, where increased permeability has been observed during CH₄ gas production, as well as using published data from laboratory tests. Model results are generally in good agreement with observed permeability changes. The importance of fracture–matrix interaction in determining coal permeability, demonstrated in this study using relatively simple stress conditions, underscores the need for a dual-continuum (fracture and matrix) mechanical approach to rigorously capture coal-deformation processes under complex stress conditions, as well as the coupled flow and transport processes in coal seams.     

A thermo-mechanically coupled theory for fluid permeation in elastomeric materials: Application to thermally responsive gels

An elastomeric gel is a cross-linked polymer network swollen with a solvent, and certain gels can undergo large reversible volume changes as they are cycled about a critical temperature. We have developed a continuum-level theory to describe the coupled mechanical deformation, fluid permeation, and heat transfer of such thermally responsive gels. In discussing special constitutive equations we limit our attention to isotropic materials, and consider a model based on a Flory–Huggins model for the free energy change due to mixing of the fluid with the polymer network, coupled with a non-Gaussian statistical–mechanical model for the change in configurational entropy—a model which accounts for the limited extensibility of polymer chains. We have numerically implemented our theory in a finite element program. We show that our theory is capable of simulating swelling, squeezing of fluid by applied mechanical forces, and thermally responsive swelling/de-swelling of such materials.     

Bentonite slurries—zeta potential,yield stress,adsorbed additive and time-dependent behaviour

Bentonite clay is a vital ingredient of drilling mud. The time-dependent and high shear thinning yield stress behaviour of drilling mud is essential for maintaining wellbore stability and to remove cuttings, cool and clean the drill bit of debris. As-prepared 3, 5 and 7 wt.% bentonite clay slurries displayed time-dependent behaviour where the yield stress (measured after quick stirring) decreased with time of rest. An equilibrium value is reached after 24 h. Despite the low solids concentration, the yield stress is already relatively high and is displayed at all pH level. The yield stress is maximum at pH 2 and minimum at pH ∼ 7. This yield stress is due to the formation of gel structure by the swelling clay particles. However the addition of phosphate additives such as (PO₃)^19 −, (P₃O₁₀)^5 − and (P₂O₇)^4 − completely dispersed the clay slurries at pH above 6. At pH below 6, yield stress is still present but is 3-folds smaller than that of the pure bentonite slurry. With phosphate additives, the magnitude of the critical zeta potential at the complete dispersion pH is ca 48 mV. However for the pure bentonite, the slurry remained flocculated at zeta potential of >50 mV in magnitude. Interestingly, (P₂O₇)^4 − anions is more effective than the other two phosphate additives in reducing the yield stress at low pH, ∼ 2.0.     

Macroscopic Behavior of Swelling Porous Media Derived from Micromechanical Analysis

A new macroscopic model for swelling porous media is derived based on a rigorous upscaling of the microstructure. Considering that at the microscale the medium is composed of a charged solid phase (e.g. clay platelets, bio-macromolecules, colloidal or polymeric particles) saturated by a binary monovalent aqueous electrolyte solution composed of cations + and anions – of an entirely dissociated salt, the homogenization procedure is applied to scale up the pore-scale model. The microscopic system of governing equations consists of the local electro-hydrodynamics governing the movement of the electrolyte solution (Poisson–Boltzmann coupled with a modified Stokes problem including an additional body force of Coulombic interaction) together with modified convection–diffusion equations governing cations and anions transport. This system is coupled with the elasticity problem which describes the deformation of the solid phase. Novel forms of Terzaghi's effective principle and Darcy's law are derived including the effects of swelling pressure and osmotically induced flows, respectively. Micromechanical representations are provided for the macroscopic physico-chemical quantities.     

流体饱和多孔介质动力问题的显式时域解法

为了简化分析,Zienkiewicz等基于Biot理论,在忽略流体相对于土骨架运动的加速度条件下,建立了以土骨架位移u和孔隙流体压力p为基本变量的u-p格式饱和两相介质动力方程。针对该u-p方程,在空间上,采用伽辽金法有限元离散,并结合对角化形式的质量矩阵和流体压缩矩阵,忽略相邻结点间的惯性和流体压缩量间的耦合作用。在时域内,基于杜修力等提出的显式算法和Euler预估-校正法,建立了一种具有二阶精度的全显式时域积分法。采用一维饱和土模型,对比提出算法的数值解与Simon方法的解析解,发现两者吻合良好,验证了本文方法的正确性。并分析了饱和土二维动力问题,以及渗透系数和排水条件对饱和土动力响应的影响。     

Marangoni Mixed Convection Boundary Layer Flow

The paper deals with a steady coupled dissipative layer, called Marangoni mixed convection boundary layer, which can be formed along the interface of two immiscible fluids, in surface driven flows. The mixed convection boundary layer is generated when besides the Marangoni effects there are also buoyancy effects due to gravity and external pressure gradient effects. We shall use a model proposed by Golia and Viviani (L’ Aerotecnica missili e Spazio 64 (1985) 29–35, Meccanica 21 (1986) 200–204) wherein the Marangoni coupling condition has been included into the boundary conditions at the interface. The similarity equations are first determined, and the pertinent equations are solved numerically for some values of the governing parameters and the features of the flow and temperature fields as well as the interface velocity and heat transfer at the interface are analysed and discussed.     

RENEWAL OF BASIC LAWS AND PRINCIPLES FOR POLAR CONTINUUM THEORIES (Ⅵ)—CONSERVATION LAWS OF MASS AND INERTIA

The purpose is to reestablish the coupled conservation laws, the local conservation equations and the jump conditions of mass and inertia for polar continuum theories. In this connection the new material derivatives of the deformation gradient, the line element, the surface element and the volume element were derived and the generalized Reynolds transport theorem was presented. Combining, these conservation laws of mass and inertia with the balance laws of momentum, angular momentum and energy derived in our previous papers of this series, a rather complete system of coupled basic laws and principles for polar continuum theories is constituted on the whole. From this system the coupled nonlocal balance equations of mass, inertia, momentum, angular momentum and energy may be obtained by the usual localization. Contributed by DAI Tian-min, Original Member of Editorial Committee, AMM Foundation items: the National Natural Science Foundation of China (10072024); the Research Foundation of Liaoning Education Committee (990111001) Biography: DAI Tian-min (1931≈)     

One-dimensional Swelling Behavior of Clay and Shale Under Electrical Potential Gradient

Clay and shale formations are potentially subjected to swelling and softening when they are exposed to fresh water. Conventional swell test on clay and shale is very slow and it can take months or years to achieve the full swelling potential. This paper proposes the use of an electrical potential gradient applied across the clay sample to accelerate the swelling process. The fluid flow and ions transport in a clayey porous medium under an electrical potential gradient are examined along with possible chemical reactions. Details of the experimental design, setup, and testing procedures are presented. The test materials include reconstituted kalonite and bentonite samples saturated with sodium chloride solution and natural shale cores. Results of this study confirm that the applied electrical potential gradient enhances the ionic depletion and fluid flow, and subsequently the swelling process.     

A Two-Scale Model for Coupled Electro-Chemo-Mechanical Phenomena and Onsager’s Reciprocity Relations in Expansive Clays: I Homogenization Analysis

The macroscopic model governing coupled electro-chemo-mechanical phenomena in expansive clays is revisited within a rigorous homogenization procedure applied to the microscopic governing equations which describe the local interaction between charged clay particles and a binary monovalent aqueous electrolyte solution. The up-scaling of the microscopic electro-hydro-dynamics leads to a two-scale approach wherein the macroscopic model appears governed by a fully coupled form of Onsager’s reciprocity relations, mass conservation equations and a modified Terzaghi’s effective stress principle. In addition, the two-scale approach provides microscopic representations for the effective coefficients which are exploited herein to obtain further insight in the constitutive behavior of the electrochemical parameters and the swelling pressure. Among other effects, we show that these microscopic closure relations are mainly dictated by the spatial variability of a microscale electric potential which satisfies a local version of the Poisson–Boltzmann problem in a periodic unit cell, The proposed framework allows to address various relevant still open issues regarding the constitutive behavior of swelling systems, Among them we give particular emphasis on the analysis of the influence of the fluctuation and distortion of the electrical double layer upon the magnitude of the electrochemical coefficients and the precise local conditions for the validity of the symmetry of Onsager’s relations.