Dynamics of drying in 3D porous media

The drying dynamics in three dimensional porous media are studied with confocal microscopy. We observe abrupt air invasions in size from single particle to hundreds of particles. We show that these result from the strong flow from menisci in large pores to menisci in small pores during drying. This...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2008-08, Vol.101 (9), p.094502-094502, Article 094502
Main Authors: Xu, Lei, Davies, Simon, Schofield, Andrew B, Weitz, David A
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:The drying dynamics in three dimensional porous media are studied with confocal microscopy. We observe abrupt air invasions in size from single particle to hundreds of particles. We show that these result from the strong flow from menisci in large pores to menisci in small pores during drying. This flow causes air invasions to start in large menisci and subsequently spread throughout the entire system. We measure the size and structure of the air invasions and show that they are in accord with invasion percolation. By varying the particle size and contact angle we unambiguously demonstrate that capillary pressure dominates the drying process.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.094502