Why Study Porous Media and What Courses to Choose?
Porous media are all around us. In the ground, water fills the pores of aquifers, and oil is found in porous medium. Pollutants may follow rainwater into the ground which is a porous medium; where do the pollutants end up? When underground water rises during earthquakes, they may push the soil particles apart so that it loses it strength with the results that building topple. Less dramatically, but extremely importantly, the physics and chemistry of nanoporous media is at the core of fuel cells, batteries, and in heterogeneous catalysis. They make up concrete and biological tissue. A better understanding of the flow patterns in these materials will make them much more efficient – an important goal in a world that needs to become greener.
In PoreLab we study phenomena of these and related kinds, aiming to understand, improve and use the porous materials in ways that are more environmentally friendly, and more effective than now. An interdisciplinary PoreLab-environment has been constructed to facilitate contact between different disciplines and speed up this development.
PoreLab offers a range of courses open for all students at our host universities.
The two first courses, PoreLab course 1 and PoreLab course 2 are jointly organized between NTNU and UiO. They were adapted to PoreLab with a special focus on porous media physics.
PoreLab course 1:
FYS4465/FYS9465 (Dynamics of complex media) at UiO or KJ8210 (Flows in porous media) at NTNU
Theory and simulation of flows in complex media
The course covers hydrodynamics where capillary and viscous forces play a role. It also covers simulation methods, thermodynamics and statistical physics relevant to porous media. The course content is motivated in terms of ground water flows, biological tissue, hydrocarbon management, fuel cells, electrophoresis, building materials and the quest for the governing equations.
Background assumed: Equilibrium statistical mechanics. Some students may know about diffusion/Langevin equations/basic theory of Onsager reciprocity relations, others will know the Boltzmann equation. Goal: Bring the student to understand the hydrodynamics of flows in porous media, including thermal gradients and concentration gradients. Also, the student will get a toolbox to simulate the flow in porous media on different scales. The course will support the experimental course in PoreLab.
During the fall 2019, the courses was held in Oslo at the PoreLab video communication room in the Physics Building, University of Oslo, with a video connection in Trondheim from our meeting room at our PoreLab offices (S.P. Andersens vei 15 B, PTS2, 2nd floor.) every Tuesday (lectures) and Thursday (Group teaching) from 12:15 to 14:00.
Professor Eirik Flekkøy is the lecturer for this course.
The compendium for the course is available here.