19–22 May 2026
Europe/Paris timezone

Capillary compression of a soft sponge

22 May 2026, 09:35
15m
Oral Presentation (MS12) Coupled Flow-Deformation Processes in Porous Media MS12

Speaker

Hangkai Wei (University of Oxford)

Description

The capillary entry pressure of a porous medium is the applied pressure at which a non-wetting fluid will first invade the pore space by displacing the wetting fluid from the largest pore throats. For a rigid porous medium, the entry pressure is a characteristic of the two fluids, the solid material, and the pore structure. For a soft porous medium, however, the applied pressure will also compress the medium, thereby changing the pore structure and thus the entry pressure itself. This capillary compression complicates the basic concept of entry pressure as a material property. Here, we use experiments and modelling to study the capillary entry pressure of a soft polyurethane sponge. We show that the measurement of capillary pressure provides a sensitive probe of the complex mechanics of these materials. We highlight the strong, non-monotonic relationship between water content and volumetric strain.

Country United Kingdom
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Author

Hangkai Wei (University of Oxford)

Co-authors

Dr Oliver Paulin (Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self Organization) Dr Callum Cuttle (University of Oxford) Prof. Chris MacMinn (University of Oxford)

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