Compression of porous aluminum: combined ultrasonic and microtomography measurements with lattice-Boltzmann permeability simulations

ABSTRACT

Combined ultrasonic and X-ray microtomography measurements in situ at high pressure, in conjunction with lattice-Boltzmann simulations, enabled simultaneous investigation several physical parameters including: elastic wave velocities (v_p and v_s); apparent Poisson’s ratio; pore structure; porosity; and permeability. Experiments were conducted on a simple analog material, porous mold-quality aluminum, in a Paris-Edinburgh cell from 0.14 to 1.36 GPa. Porosity was observed to have a strong inverse dependence on pressure up to ∼0.9 GPa, while permeability has an anisotropic dependence on pressure. Elastic wave velocity (v_p, v_s) and apparent Poisson’s ratio all increase with pressure, with v_p agreeing well with the Hashin–Shtrikman upper bound at lower pressures and higher porosities. These results demonstrate a new methodology combining experimental and analytical methods to provide cross-property links between microscopic structure and macroscopic elastic properties. Future investigations on more complex Earth materials may have important implications for our understanding of the composition of the deep Earth.

KEYWORDS:

• Tomography
• permeability
• acoustic measurements
• composite materials
• geophysics

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Heather C. Watson http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4307-6518

Additional information

Funding

This research used resources of the Advanced Photon Source, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357.