R. Vocka et Ma. Dubois, Pore network as a model of porous media: Comparison between nonhierarchical and hierarchical organizations of pores, PHYS REV E, 62(4), 2000, pp. 5216-5224
A pore network is used as a model of a porous medium with hierarchical and
single level organization of the pores. A microscopic diffusion or adsorpti
on process is introduced that permits the study of both temporal evolution
and effective properties of transport. The relationships between the model
parameters and the measurable quantities are derived. The transport in medi
a with a hierarchical organization of pores is shown to be qualitatively di
fferent from that in media lacking this organization. The question of exper
imental distinction between the two types of pore organization is also stud
ied. We show that mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) measurements furnish
valuable information about the pore organization in a sample, but that the
exact deconvolution of the real pore size distribution from the experimenta
l data is not straightforward. Our work provides indications for a correct
interpretation of MIP results. Qualitative comparison with experiments show
the pertinence of hierarchical models.