Experience with the use of methylcellulose as a viscous pore fluid in centrifuge models

In geotechnical modeling, the use of a pore fluid having viscosity greater than that of water is a well-established method of satisfying the scaling l aws relating to movement of pore fluid through the soil during dynamic load ing events. This has often been achieved with either silicone oil or mixtur es of water and glycerol. However, there are a number of inherent drawbacks and difficulties in using silicone oil in particular, and this paper descr ibes an alternative solution of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) in wat er that has been used recently with success. This paper presents test data documenting the variation in solution viscosity with concentration and temp erature and the variation in specific gravity with concentration. The relat ive performance of the fluid is illustrated with data from two centrifuge m odel tests, one with pure water as the pore fluid and one with an HPMC solu tion having viscosity ten times that of water.