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Topological inversions in coalescing granular media control fluid-flow regimes

Wadsworth, FB; Vasseur, J; Llewellin, EW; Dobson, KJ; Colombier, M; von Aulock, FW; Fife, JL; Wiesmaier, S; Hess, K-U; Scheu, B; Lavallée, Y; Dingwell, DB

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Authors

J Vasseur

KJ Dobson

M Colombier

FW von Aulock

JL Fife

S Wiesmaier

K-U Hess

B Scheu

Y Lavallée

DB Dingwell



Abstract

Sintering—or coalescence—of viscous droplets is an essential process in many natural and industrial scenarios. Current physical models of the dynamics of sintering are limited by the lack of an explicit account of the evolution of microstructural geometry. Here, we use high-speed time-resolved x-ray tomography to image the evolving geometry of a sintering system of viscous droplets, and use lattice Boltzmann simulations of creeping fluid flow through the reconstructed pore space to determine its permeability. We identify and characterize a topological inversion, from spherical droplets in a continuous interstitial gas, to isolated bubbles in a continuous liquid. We find that the topological inversion is associated with a transition in permeability-porosity behavior, from Stokes permeability at high porosity, to percolation theory at low porosity. We use these findings to construct a unified physical description that reconciles previously incompatible models for the evolution of porosity and permeability during sintering.

Citation

Wadsworth, F., Vasseur, J., Llewellin, E., Dobson, K., Colombier, M., von Aulock, F., …Dingwell, D. (2017). Topological inversions in coalescing granular media control fluid-flow regimes. Physical Review E, 96(3), Article 033113. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.96.033113

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Sep 7, 2017
Online Publication Date Sep 25, 2017
Publication Date Sep 25, 2017
Deposit Date Sep 15, 2017
Publicly Available Date Oct 6, 2017
Journal Physical review . E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics
Print ISSN 2470-0045
Electronic ISSN 2470-0053
Publisher American Physical Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 96
Issue 3
Article Number 033113
DOI https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.96.033113

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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.





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