Speaker
Description
Coupled fluid flow and mechanical deformation play a central role in the behaviour of porous media whose internal topology evolves under load, spanning applications from geomechanics and energy systems to soft biological and bio-inspired materials. Despite extensive advances in poromechanics, many numerical approaches still rely on continuum assumptions that inadequately capture how deformation-driven microstructural changes regulate transport processes.
In this contribution, we present a unified, image-based computational framework that couples Finite Element Method (FEM) simulations of deformation with Pore Network Modeling (PNM) of microscale fluid transport to resolve flow–deformation interactions in evolving porous architectures. High-resolution micro-CT images of human meniscus tissue are used as a representative example of a soft hydrated porous solid, enabling direct extraction of pore–throat networks before and after mechanical loading. By constraining PNM simulations with FEM-derived deformation fields, we quantify load-induced changes in pore geometry, connectivity, permeability, tortuosity, and pressure distribution in a spatially resolved manner.
To characterise topological evolution beyond conventional geometric descriptors, we further introduce two- and three-dimensional Minkowski Functionals, capturing deformation-induced changes in connectedness, surface complexity, and Euler characteristic of the pore space. The results demonstrate how local mechanical strain drives non-linear and heterogeneous transport responses that cannot be predicted from static microstructures alone.
This work illustrates how integrating imaging, deformation modelling, and topology-aware transport simulation enables more predictive descriptions of coupled hydro-mechanical behaviour, contributing to the broader understanding of flow–deformation processes in natural, engineered, and biological porous media.
| References | Greta Agustoni, Jared Maritz, James Kennedy, Francesco P Bonomo, St´ephane PA Bordas, and Olga Barrera. High resolution micro-computed tomography reveals a network of collagen channels in the body region of the knee meniscus. Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 49:2273–2281, 2021. 30 [4] Jack Waghorne, Francesco Paolo Bonomo, Arash Rabbani, Daniel Bell, and Olga Barrera. On the characteristics of natural hydraulic dampers: An image-based approach to study the fluid flow behaviour inside the human meniscal tissue. Acta Biomaterialia, 175:157–169, 2024. [5] Rasoul Mirghafari, Daniel Bell, and Olga Barrera. An image-based ap- proach for advanced statistical quantification of architectural parameters and permeability in porous biological media. Acta Biomaterialia, 2025. |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
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