Determination of the Average Capillary Radius of Porous Materials

Abstract

A more accurate analytic method of determining the average hydraulic radius of a capillary on the basis of a three-dimensional model of the porous structure of materials that takes capillary geometry into account is proposed. The computational formula derived for the average radius is much more accurate than the generally used Kozeni relation. Good agreement with the experimental data is obtained. This model and a fundamentally new approach are used to develop a procedure and derive a computational expression for the average radius from data on the seepage of liquid into a porous material that is several-fold more accurate than existing ones. Computational results are presented.