Faithin Omaha eBook Collection

Download or read book Discrete Particle Transport in Porous Media written by Joon Sik Yoon and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: (Cont.) The entrapment mechanism was physical interlocking on surface roughness and physical straining at the contact points. Particle sedimentation and particle re-entrainment as a result of flow field perturbations were the main mechanisms contributing to the hindrance of particles. Changes in the concentrations of particles that were entrapped or hindered were observed with distance from the particle injection point. These changes, which became more significant as the fluid velocity decreased, were attributed to particle size distribution effects. Experiments conducted with an upward pore fluid velocity supported the hypothesis that particle entrapment and hindrance are driven by gravity. The comparison of the experimental results with particle transport models based on macroscopic mass balance equations demonstrated some of the short-comings of these models. Drainage tests performed using the geotechnical centrifuge and the new visualization technique e also provided initial insight into discrete particle behavior in an unsaturated porous medium. The results of these tests show that particles were scavenged by the air-water interface, adsorbed on the air-water interface of the pendular rings, and were retained by film straining. Thus, it is believed that the visualization technique developed during this work can be used to further investigations of discrete particle transport behavior in partially saturated porous media.