Reproducing micro X-ray computed tomography (microXCT) observations of air–water distribution in porous media using revised pore-morphology method

This study presents a novel and simple morphology approach to generate two-dimensional air–water distribution in porous media considering Or and Tuller’s cavitation mechanism (published in 2002). The connectedness condition for the nonwetting phase is replaced by the Laplace equation. An algorithm i...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian geotechnical journal 2020, Vol.57 (1), p.149-156
Main Authors: Liu, Xin, Zhou, Annan, Li, Jie, Feng, Shijin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air
air–water distribution
Algorithms
Analysis
Beads
Cavitation
Computed tomography
Computer applications
Computer simulation
CT imaging
Distribution
distribution air–eau
Glass beads
Laplace equation
Methods
milieu poreux
Moisture distribution
morphologie
Morphology
Porous media
Soil
Soil moisture
Soil moisture distribution
Soil water
Soils
sol non saturé
Statistical methods
Thermodynamic equilibrium
Thermodynamics
Tomography
unsaturated soil
Water
Water distribution
Water engineering
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This study presents a novel and simple morphology approach to generate two-dimensional air–water distribution in porous media considering Or and Tuller’s cavitation mechanism (published in 2002). The connectedness condition for the nonwetting phase is replaced by the Laplace equation. An algorithm is developed to detect the ruptured water spaces that are incorrectly formed in the throat by the morphology approach, but cannot exist in a real thermodynamic equilibrium system. The distributions of soil moisture, water retention curve, and air–liquid interface area at different saturations predicted by this method are in a good quantitative agreement with the experimental observations on glass beads and Ottawa sand from micro X-raycomputed tomography (microXCT). Compared to Lu et al.’s Monte Carlo lattice-gas approach (published in 2010), another computational method to generate the soil moisture distribution, the proposed approach provides better results with significantly less computational power.
ISSN:0008-3674
1208-6010
DOI:10.1139/cgj-2018-0662