Characterizing flow through artificial deformable porous media

Porous deformable materials are ubiquitous in nature. Fluid flow through any deformable porous medium causes deformation of the medium and in turn, this deformation affects the fluid flow. Flow through deformable porous media is relevant to applications such as soil consolidation, CO2 sequestration, infiltration and transport processes in human tissue including for drug delivery. This work aims to investigate certain aspects of such flow using a purposely designed artificial deformable porous medium. The matrix is made with polydimethylsiloxane using the solvent casting and particulate leaching technique. The setup comprises a tightly sealed chamber and a mechanism to strain the porous matrix and the pressure difference and the resultant flow rate through the matrix are measured. We derive strain-permeability and porosity-permeability relationships from the measurements for comparison with existing models, and we observe that the matrix permeability varies exponentially with strain. The setup also permits observation of flow-induced deformation of the matrix as a function of driving pressure and fluid viscosity. Our ability to manipulate individual parameters of this flow problem allows us to better understand the complexities of poroviscoelastic flow.