zoladek.indd

Abstract. The results of the experiments on water migration in unsaturated beds of natural zeolite (clinoptilolite) performed with a dynamic neutron radiography technique are presented. It was found that the migration of water in zeolites is much slower than in quartz sand composed of the same size grains. The effect is attributed to the enormous grain surface roughness of the zeolite. The influence of gravity was found to be significant only for beds formed by the coarsest grains. It was found that the water imbibition rate increases with time in finest grain zeolite beds. The results show the difficulties of the classical theory of adhesion driven motion of the liquid in the single capillary as a model of water imbibition by zeolite beds

Studies on water transport in quasi two-dimensional porous systems using neutron radiography

The spontaneous wetting and drying of flat porous samples of linen, cotton and synthetic textiles were studied using dynamic neutron radiography (DNR). The progress of the wetting process of the media was delineated from the obtained neutron dynamical radiography images. The results of the investigation reveal a non-classical behaviour of kinetics of wicking of these materials. The character of the wetting kinetics is discussed in terms of the fractal character of the tortuosity of fabric capillaries