The mechanism of porosity formation during solvent-mediated phase transformations

Solvent-mediated solid-solid phase transformations often result in the formation of a porous medium, which may be stable on long time scales or undergo ripening and consolidation. We have studied replace- ment processes in the KBr-KCl-H2O system using both in situ and ex situ experiments. The replacement of a KBr crystal by a K(Br,Cl) solid solution in the presence of an aqueous solution is facilitated by the gen- eration of a surprisingly stable, highly anisotropic and connected pore structure that pervades the product phase. This pore structure ensures efficient solute transport from the bulk solution to the reacting KBr and K(Br,Cl) surfaces. The compositional profile of the K(Br,Cl) solid solu- tion exhibits striking discontinuities across disc-like cavities in the product phase. Similar transformation mechanisms are probably important in con- trolling phase transformation processes and rates in a variety of natural and man-made systems.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figure

Simulation of the Kinetics of Aggregation: Fractals and Scaling

In many processes of interest in physics, chemistry and biology small particles come together to form large structures. The fractal geometry of small particle aggregates plays an important role in their physical behavior including the kinetics of the aggregation process itself. The kinetics of aggregation can frequently be described by a mean field Smoluchowski equation. The geometric scaling properties (fractal geometry) of the aggregating clusters determine the scaling symmetry of the reaction kernel which in turn determines the asymptotic form of the cluster size distribution and the growth of the mean cluster size. In most simple systems, the asymptotic cluster size distribution can be described by the scaling form Ns(t) ~ s~°f(s/S(l)) where Ns(t) is the number of clusters of size s at time t and S(/) is the mean cluster size at time t. This scaling form can be used in circumstances where the Smoluchowski equation does not provide an adequate representation of the aggregation kinetic

Dissipative Particle Dynamics and Other Particle Methods for Multiphase Fluid Flow in Fractured and Porous Media

Particle methods are much less computationally efficient than grid based numerical solution of the Navier Stokes equation, and they have been used much less extensively, particularly for engineering applications. However, they have important advantages for some applications. These advantages include rigorous mast conservation, momentum conservation and isotropy. In addition, there is no need for explicit interface tracking/capturing. Code development effort is relatively low, and it is relatively simple to simulate flows with moving boundaries. In addition, it is often quite easy to include coupling of fluid flow with other physical phenomena such a phase separation. Here we describe the application of three particle methods: molecular dynamics, dissipative particle dynamics and smoothed particle hydrodynamics. While these methods were developed to simulate fluids and other materials on three quite different scales – the molecular, meso and continuum scales, they are very closely related from a computational point of view. The mesoscale (between the molecular and continuum scales) dissipative particle dynamics method can be used to simulate systems that are too large to simulate using molecular dynamics but small enough for thermal fluctuations to play an important role. Important examples include polymer solutions, gels, small particle suspensions and membranes. In these applications inter particle and intra molecular hydrodynamic interactions are automatically include

The three-dimensional roughness of stylolites in limestones: roughness analysis and possible genetic implications

International audienceStylolites are dynamic roughly planar surfaces formed by pressure solution of blocks of rocks into each other. The three-dimensional geometry of 12 bedding-parallel stylolites in several limestones was measured using laser and mechanical profilometers, and statistical characteristics of the surfaces were calculated. All the stylolites analyzed turn out to have self-affine fractal roughness with a well-characterized crossover length scale separating two self-affine regimes. Strikingly, this characteristic length scale falls within a very narrow range for all the stylolites studied, regardless of the microstructure sizes. To explain the data, we propose a continuous phenomenological model that accounts for the development of the measured roughness from an initially flat surface. The model postulates that the complex interface morphology is the result of competition between the long-range elastic redistribution of local stress fluctuations, which roughen the surface, and surface tension forces along the interface, which smooth it. The model accounts for the geometrical variability of stylolite surfaces and predicts the dependence of the crossover length scale on the mechanical properties of the rock