Tortuosity of Internal Pore Space in Variously Structured Platelet Particles

Numerical investigations of pore characteristics in platelet particles with various macroscopic structures were performed for fundamental understanding of transport properties in clay layers composed of montmorillonite particles. The effect of macroscopic structures of particles on the geometric cha...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Transport in porous media 2023-07, Vol.148 (3), p.535-557
Main Authors: Ishiyama, Kyoka, Yamamoto, Keita, Harada, Shusaku, Yagi, Tsubasa
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anisotropy
Civil Engineering
Classical and Continuum Physics
Clay
Configuration management
Diffusion coefficient
Diffusion layers
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences
Hydrogeology
Hydrology/Water Resources
Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering
Investigations
Montmorillonite
Permeability
Random walk
Sinuosity
Tortuosity
Transport properties
Validity
Waste disposal
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Summary:Numerical investigations of pore characteristics in platelet particles with various macroscopic structures were performed for fundamental understanding of transport properties in clay layers composed of montmorillonite particles. The effect of macroscopic structures of particles on the geometric characteristics of pore networks was examined, particularly focusing on the tortuosity which represents the sinuosity of voids. Monte Carlo simulations of platelet particles under various initial configurations were performed to obtain metastable structures with internal differences. A random walk analysis was performed in extracted macropores of platelet structures. The tortuosity of pore network in variously structured platelet particles was evaluated from the results of the random walk analysis. The numerical results showed that the macrostructures of particles form complicated pore networks, which significantly influence the tortuosity. The “diffusional” tortuosity obtained from the random walk analyses was compared with the existing “geometrical” tortuosity model. It was found that configurational characteristics of platelets, such as size and orientation angle of particle clusters, were vital to estimate the tortuosity. The obtained tortuosity was also compared with the experimental results of the diffusion coefficient in clay layers obtained from previous studies. The results suggested that a complicated density dependence of diffusivity in clay arises from the diversity of macroscopic particle structures.
ISSN:0169-3913
1573-1634
DOI:10.1007/s11242-023-01958-w