THE EFFECTIVE MECHANICAL-PROPERTIES OF RANDOM POROUS-MEDIA

The effective mechanical properties of homogeneous porous media can be theoretically determined by a multiple scale expansion. In such a sch eme, the media are modelled as being spatially periodic. The elastic e quations with appropriate boundary conditions are numerically solved o n the unit cell to determine the macroscopic mechanical properties of the medium. Three types of unit cell were investigated : deterministic , fractal and random; the last type includes media derived from site p ercolation, random packings of spheres and a real sample of Fontainebl eau sandstone. A systematic comparison is made with existing numerical data and with the predictions of various types of renormalization mod els. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.