Straining to Learn Permeability

Characterizing fluid flow in a porous material with permeability is fundamental to energy and hydrological applications, yet direct measurements of permeability are very difficult to conduct in situ. However, attending fluid flow through a material are various mechanical responses, e.g., strain fields, acoustic emission. These mechanical responses may hold important clues to the fluid flow in the material, to the permeability. Here we report results from a numerical study of fluid flow in a channel, defined by confining side blocks, that contains a particle bed. For a range of inlet velocities, we study the strain and acoustic emission in the side blocks. Simulations are repeated for different configurations of the particle bed. We find that the observed mechanical response accords with an analytic model of this system, providing promising evidence for using mechanical measurements, particularly strain and acoustic emission, as surrogates for direct measurement of permeability.