Track 4: Multiphysical Couplings and Transport Phenomena

This publication is part of the proceedings of the Biot-Bažant Conference on Engineering Mechanics and Physics of Porous Materials, which took place virtually on June 1-3, 2021.

The engineering applications involving porous materials, including geological media, concrete or biomaterials, are numerous within the fields of energy recovery/storage, civil engineering and bio-mechanics. Such porous materials usually show strong couplings between deformation and transport properties at various length scales. Furthermore, they often exhibit a broad range of pore or defect sizes, and the nature of transport varies with observation scale. The transport of substances may cause volumetric instabilities that induce cracking or other forms of damage. Cracking, in turn, may drastically alter the transport properties of the material. Interactions with the environment, or the development of material structure over time due to growth or ageing processes, also influence behavior. Effective engineering for these applications thus requires an understanding of the coupled influences of thermal, hygral, chemical, and mechanical phenomena acting over relevant length and time scales. This track welcomes contributions within the general subject area of multi-field processes and transport phenomena in porous media. Contributions stemming from theoretical developments, physical experimentation or numerical modeling are all encouraged. One goal is to share knowledge and identify commonalities between different disciplines and modes of study.

Concrete Chair: John Bolander (USA)

Poromechanics Chair: Jean-Michel Pereira (France)