Capillary Processes in Porous Media

(An introduction to Soil Physics)

Dani Or
Department of Environmental Systems Science (D-USYS)
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich)

Cargèse Summer School - 2018

 Capillary processes in soil, the vadose and critical zones
• The vadose zone (also the unsaturated zone) is the subsurface domain extending
between land surface and saturated groundwater (vadosus = shallow in Latin)

• Within the vadose zone, the biosphere meets the atmosphere, the lithosphere and
the hydrosphere (life flourishes where solid-liquid- and gaseous phases coexist)

• Often, soil and the vadose zone are synonymous (in humid regions) – but not
always (arid regions with deep water tables)

• The “critical zone” extends the vadose zone to consider exchange from the top
plant canopies and often involves larger scales and soil formation time scales
The “critical
zone”
soil

The vadose
zone
Provisioning and regulating services by soil

• Soil provides anchoring and growth

media for plants (food & fiber) supports
>95% global biomass stocks (forests)
• Serves as water reservoir and functions
as a water purification system
• Nature’s recycling system – supporting
global biogeochemical cycles (C, N)
• Provides habitats to the largest number
of species in the biosphere
• Used as building material and provides
foundation for engineered systems

The economic value of soil services is estimated at $100 Trillion (1012) per year
exceeding annual global GNP of $72 Trillion (Costanza et al. 1997; Young 2006)
 Soil Water Potential - definitions and expressions
• Liquid in porous media, or water in soil is subject to several forces, their combined
effects define the potential energy state of liquid (water) relative to a reference state
• Total Soil Water Potential ψT is expressed as the sum of a few potential components
(commonly present and affect soil water energy status):
ψz gravitational potential
ψm matric/capillary potential
ψT = ψz + ψm + ψp + ψs +.... ψp pressure potential
ψs solute or osmotic potential

Definition - The amount of work that an infinitesimal amount of water at

equilibrium is capable of doing when it moves to a standard (reference) state

• Soil water potential energy can be expressed in terms of chemical potential µ (energy/
mass), soil water potential ψ (energy/volume), or soil water head h (energy/ weight)

These are linked via relations between Units Symbol Name Dimensions SI Units
volume, mass and weight (of water):
Energy/Mass µ Chemical Potential L2/t2 J/kg

ψ Soil Water Potential

µ= = g ⋅h Energy/Volume Ψ
Suction/ Tension
M/(L2t2) N/m2 (Pa)
ρw
Energy/Weight h Soil Water Head L m
 The matric (capillary) potential

ψT = ψz + ψm + ψp + ψs +....
• The matric/capillary potential results from capillary phenomena and adsorptive
forces between water and the soil solid matrix; the spontaneous solid-liquid
interactions bind water and lower its potential energy relative to that of “free” water

• ψm ranges from zero for saturated soil to large negative values for dry soil (still
expressed in terms of pressure!)

Tensiometer

wet dry
 Factors affecting the matric potential/capillary pressure

• Interfacial processes:
o Liquid-gas surface tension
o Contact angle and surface wettability
o Surface roughness

• Geometrical factors:
o Curved interfaces and capillarity
o Capillary rise
o Capillarity in angular pores

• More interfacial processes:

o Surface forces and liquid film adsorption
water
 Surface tension
• Polar water molecules (δ- near O; and δ+ near H) are mutually
attracted and form short-lived hydrogen bonds (HB) with
neighboring molecules in the liquid (a “flickering crystal”)

• At the liquid-gas interface, molecules are exposed to different

forces than molecules within bulk liquid (4 HB in bulk but only 3
HB on average at the interface)

• The surface imbalance in HB formation makes it energetically

unfavorable to bring new molecules to the interface, thus creating
“skin-like” interface that tends to minimize its area and give rise to
surface tension

Water surface acts like a

membrane with tendency
to contract to minimize its
interfacial energy thus
giving rise to surface tension
 Values of surface tension
• Surface tension is expressed as energy
per unit area (or force per unit length)
J/m2 or N/m

• There is a direct link between the

surface tension of various liquids and
their enthalpy of vaporization (latent
heat of vaporization) – both phenomena
must overcome intermolecular forces

Water at 20oC = 0.0727 N/m

Ethyl Alcohol = 0.022 N/m
Mercury = 0.43 N/m
Direct measurement of surface tension
The Ring Method (du Noüy 1919)
Wtot = Wring + 4πRσ

• The method is simple and measures the

detachment force (the surface tension multiplied
by the periphery 2*2πR)
• A platinum ring with torsion wire (force) are used
• Errors due to internal and planar curvatures
require some modifications
Wilhelmy plate (1863)

Wtot = W plate + pσ cos θ

• p=2(l+b) is the perimeter of a thin slide (glass or

platinum); for wettable surfaces no corrections
are needed (the contact angle θ is known)
 Contact angle and wettablity
• When liquid is placed on a solid surface in the presence of gas, the
interfaces between the three phases form a contact angle γ measured
between solid-liquid (S-L) interface and liquid-gas interfaces (L-G)
• For a liquid drop resting on a solid surface under
equilibrium (e.g., when spreading stops), the sum of
forces acting to spread the drop is equal to the opposing
forces and the resulting force balance expressed by the
Young equation (1805) for the contact angle:

∆E = ∆A(σ SL − σ GS ) + ∆A cos(γ ) σ LG
∆E
At equilibrium: =0=σ LG cos(γ ) + σ SL − σ GS
∆A
σ GS − σ SL
cos γ =
σ LG
γ

dALG
= cos(γ )
dASL
 Contact angle and wettablity
• When adhesion of a liquid drop to the solid surface is stronger than cohesion
among neighboring liquid molecules - the resulting contact angle is small (< 90o)
and the surface is said to be wettable (hydrophilic)

γ<90o

• When the cohesive forces dominate adhesion to the surface, the

contact angle may become > 900 indicating the solid “repels” the
liquid hence the designation nonwettable (hydrophobic)

(a) Wettable silt soil surface (γ ~ 0o)

(b) Treated repellant silt soil (γ = 70o)
γ>90o
(Bachmann et al., 2000)

γ for water on glass is often taken as 0o (in practice it is in the range of 20o-30o)
γ for mercury on glass is 148o
 Wettability - heterogeneous and rough surfaces
• The contact angle formed at equilibrium on flat and homogeneous surfaces, may exhibit a
range of behaviors for inclined, chemically heterogeneous, and rough surfaces

• For chemically heterogeneous surfaces made of

patches with two contact angles γa and γb covering
fractions f and 1-f , a drop may form an apparent
contact angle (γe) given by the Cassie equation:

=
cos(γ e ) f cos(γ a ) + (1 − f ) cos(γ b )

• For rough surfaces where roughness (r=A/Asmooth)

affects the solid–liquid and solid–vapor interfacial
areas only, minimization of surface free energy
results in an apparent contact angle expressed by Cassie eq. for porous surface with
the Wenzel equation: porosity or entrapped air fraction φ
(1 − φ )(σ GS − σ SL ) + φσ LG
cos γ * =
cos(γ e ) = r cos(γ ) σ LG
 Partial wettability – Cassie and Wenzel regimes
Cassie’s regime with partially Superhydrophobic rough surfaces
wettable sand grains

Contact angle hysteresis and roughness

The pinning of a moving
contact line on an edge; the
Exploiting wettability Young condition stipulates
that liquid form a contact
angle θ with solid hence the
angle may have any value
between θ (flat surface) and
π-ϕ+θ (colored region)
 Wettability of biological surfaces

• Plant surfaces exhibit a wide range of micro-

structures and variations in surface properties
aimed at controlling wettability of these surfaces
Interface curvature - The Young-Laplace equation

The Young-Laplace eq. links interfacial curvature

Young T. 1805. An essay on the cohesion of
to the pressure jump across the curved interface fluids. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London 95:65–87

2σ
∆P =
r
 Interface curvature - the Young-Laplace equation
• Consider an air bubble of radius r in water, the air pressure required
to increase its volume by dV is resisted by the surface tension with a
force proportional to the increase in bubble surface area dA:

σ dA
∆P dV =

4π
∆P [ = 4πσ [(r + dr ) 2 − r 2 ]
([r + dr ]3 − r 3 )]
3

• A simple force balance (neglecting terms of dr2

and higher) yields the Young-Laplace equation:

4
∆P π (3r 2 dr ) =
4πσ (2rdr ) 2σ
3 ∆P =
r
The Young-Laplace eq. links interfacial curvature to the
pressure jump across curved interfaces (of any shape!)
 Interface shapes and capillary pressures
• For pendular bridges between spherical particles (sand grains)
x
the pressure difference (liquid-gas) is given as:

1 1 
∆P = σ  +  (-sign)
 R1 R2  (+sign)

+ y
A useful convention: interface curvature to
- liquid: -sign; curvature towards air: +sign)

• For simple volume and force calculations the

∆P
exact bridge shape with mean curvature: H =
σ
is approximated by an arc of a circle with radius
R2 (the toroidal approximation of Fisher 1926)
– the exact axisymmetric shape is described by:
1 1 1 y ''( x)
= =
R1 y ( x) 1 + y '( x) 2 R2 (1 + y '( x) 2 ) 3 2

3 1 + y '( x) 2
H (1 + y '( x) ) +
2 2
− y ''( x) =
0
y ( x)
 The capillary rise model – James Jurin 1718
The challenge of perpetual capillary flow…
• “Some days ago a method was proposed to me
by an ingenious friend, for making a perpetual
motion, which seemed so plausible, and indeed
so easily demonstrable from an observation by
the late Mr. Hawksbee, said to be grounded upon
experiment that, thou I am far from having any
opinion of attempts of this nature, yet, I confess, I
could not see why it should not succeed.

• “But as searches after things impossible in

themselves are frequently observed to produce
other discoveries unexpected by the inventer”

Perpetual capillary flow?

James Jurin (1684-1750)

The capillary rise model (cylindrical capillary)

Vertical force balance:

FC = Mg

2π rσ cos γ = π r 2 h ρ w g

Upward force Downward force

(capillary force) (weight of water)

2σ cos γ
h=
ρw g R
15
Rise of water in a glass capillary: h (m) ≈
R ( µ m)
 Models for capillarity in porous media
• Common conceptual models for capillary
water retention in porous media rely on a
simplified picture of soil pore space as a
“bundle-of-capillaries”

• The key conceptual step is converting

behavior in a complex pore to an
equivalent (idealized) cylindrical capillary

• Capillary rise or “capillary forces” that

determine the matric potential are higher in
soils with smaller pores

Assuming mean pore radius rp≈d/6 particle diameter

Sand, d= 0.5mm, rp≈ 80 µm→ h=190 mm

Silt, d= 0.025mm, rp≈ 4 µm→ h=3750 mm
Clay, d= 1µm, rp≈ 0.17 µm → h=90 m!
Capillarity rise in angular pores
2σ cos γ h=? h=?
h=
ρw g r

Why the focus on cylindrical capillaries?

 Interfacial jumps/snap-off in angular pores

capillary
condensation

1 mm

• The process of filling or emptying of angular pores Snap-off

involves abrupt interface reconfiguration at certain
states (snap-off or snap-on)
• These interfacial instabilities are important for
residual phase entrapment (liquid retention, oil
recovery), time scales of drainage, and many aspects
of fluid displacement front physics
 Capillary interfaces in angular pores
• When angular pores drain, a fraction of wetting phase
remains in pore corners resulting in ‘dual occupancy’ of
water and air not possible in cylindrical tubes
• Water filled area (Aw) at matric head h for polygons with n
corners is the sum of water area in each corner behind an
interface with curvature r (h):
γ1 σ2
= (h) F (γ )
Aw r= 2
F (γ )
r
( g ρ w h) 2

γ2 r pore shape or angularity factor

γ3
r

• For pore cross-sectional area Apore

the value of saturation (Sw) is:

r (h) 2 F (γ )
Sw =
Apore
 Example – saturation in (cross-section) triangular pore
• Find the relative saturation at matric head of -0.45 m in a cross-section of an
equilateral triangle pore of length 100 µm ?

1) The angularity factor F(60o)=3√3-π=2.054

2) The interfacial curvature r(ψ)=σ/(ψ) or r(h)=σ/(ρw gh)= 16.3 µm

σ2
Aw = r (h) F (γ ) =
2
F (γ ) = 16.32 * 2.054 = 547 µm 2
( ρ w gh) 2

• For pore cross-sectional

area Apore , the relative
saturation (Sw) is simply:

r (ψ ) 2 F (γ ) 4*547
=Sw = = 2
0.126
Apore 100 3
Capillarity rise in angular pores (Bico and Quere 2002 JCIS)
• For wettable liquid entering a square capillary
of sides a, we may balance capillary force:

p is the perimeter (4a for square tube), with

z
r(z) gravity (W=weight of liquid):

σ
r ( z) =
ρ gz • The resulting capillary rise height (w/corners)

the “finger” interface σ

r ( z) =
curvature r(z) obeys: ρ gz
Capillarity rise in angular pores (Bico and Quere 2002 JCIS)

4σ cos(θ )
h≈ ( w / o fingers )
ρga

11.32σ 4.49σ
h= h=
ρgb ρgb
 Capillary rise dynamics – rates and inertia

• We have seen that equilibrium

height of capillary rise is
inversely proportional to pore
radius, but how fast a
meniscus rises in a capillary?

• The dynamics of capillary rise

are discussed next - the
sketch on the right depicts
rapid capillary rise in sand
relative to loam and clay –
why is that?
 Dynamics of capillary rise – Washburn-Lucas equation
• Lucas (1918) and Washburn(1921) independently proposed models
for capillary rise dynamics, starting from simplified momentum
balance in a cylindrical capillary (expressed as pressures):

• Note that the “standard” capillary rise equation balances only first two terms
in the force balance (capillary and gravitational forces – no dynamics!):
2σ cos(γ )
F= ρ g r π r=2
F= 2π rσ cos γ ⇒ h=
g w c
ρw g r

• Lucas and Washburn considered balancing capillary and viscous forces inabsence of
gravity (liquid length in a horizontal capillary is marked by x(t) – reserving h for cases w/ gravity)
dx
Fc = 2 π rσ cos(γ ) = Fv = 8π ηx
dt
• Separation of variables and integration yields the Washburn-Lucas equation:
rσ cos(γ )
x(t ) = t
4η
Interface motion in short capillaries
• The forces and velocities governing interfacial flows into short capillaries
(soil pores) are vastly different than the familiar equilibrium capillary rise
• Inertial forces dominate interfacial motions in short capillaries of the
order of pore throats
(Fries and Dreyer, 2008, JCIS)
• At early times:

2σ cos(γ)
v≈
ρr
v=0.38 to 3.8 m/s
r=1mm to 10 µm
Interfacial jumps and cooperative pressure fluctuations

 Observations in model porous

medium (4 mm sintered glass
beads) show details of Capillary pressure
drainage front motion and
enable direct links between
interfacial jumps and
associated capillary pressure
fluctuations (+ AE generation)

 As mean flow rate increases

multiple pores are invaded
AE generation
simultaneously resulting in
complex and cooperative
pressure fluctuations

 Inertial effects are evident by

the oscillating interfaces
 Not all is quiet at displacement fronts…

 The motion of imbibition and drainage fluid fronts

are common in many porous media applications
(hydrology, petroleum, building materials, paper)

 Advance of a front - the seemingly smooth

macroscopic motion of a front is a result of numerous
pore scale rapid interfacial jumps and pressure bursts

 This pore scale picture challenges the continuum

Buckingham-Darcy representation of fluid front
motions (and postulated dissipation mechanisms)

 Passage of a front – rapid interfacial processes

(Haines jumps) have been linked to residual phase 2mm beads

entrapment and macroscopic transport properties;

and proposed as potential mechanisms for
hysteresis and dynamic capillary pressure - yet jump
these are often dismissed as “peculiarities”
Haines (1930)
Mean displacement motion vs. pore jump velocity

 The macro (front) and micro (pore) velocities exhibit radically different behaviors
 Front motion is composed of numerous local interfacial jumps at significantly
higher velocities than mean front speed  inertial regime
 Pore jump velocity is only slightly affected by the macroscopic front velocity
(Moebius and Or, JCIS 2012)
Modeling interfacial front motion – pore throat network
Pore throat network

volume exchange between nodes and in throats - global flow rate

with the pressure pi at node i

capillary hydrostatic viscous inertial term

air invading

water withdrawn (Moebius and Or, PRE 2014)

Modeling inertial effects – jump velocities & invaded throats
Interfacial jump velocity with/w.o. inertia Invaded throats with/w.o. inertia

 Inertia broadens distribution of interfacial jump velocities (slower & faster jumps)
 Consideration of inertial forces modifies throat invasion sequence
(smaller throats may be invaded with inertia)
 Surprisingly, inertia exerted a negligible effect on liquid phase entrapment

(Moebius and Or, PRE 2014)

 Inertial effects – minor influence on total phase entrapment

saturation

w.o. inertia
with inertia

 Surprisingly, inertia had a negligible effect on total liquid phase entrapment

 Consideration of inertial forces modified throat invasion sequence - smaller
throats may be invaded and the resulting phase entrapment pattern is modified
 The soil water characteristic curve (back to hydrostatics)
• The soil water characteristics (SWC) or water retention curve (WRC) describes
the functional relationships between soil water content (θv or θm) and the
(capillary) matric potential under equilibrium

• The SWC is related to pore space distribution (sizes, connectivity), and is strongly
affected by texture, structure and other factors including organic matter

• The SWC is an important

hydraulic property required for
modeling water flow in
unsaturated soils and other
porous media

• The SWC function is highly

nonlinear and relatively
difficult to obtain accurately
Capillary-saturation/SWC - general features

• The parameters of BC and VG models are linked to features of the SWC

 SWC with soil pores as a bundle of capillaries
• The idealization of soil pores as a bundle of capillaries provides a link between the
(experimentally determined) SWC shape and idealized soil pore size distribution
based on capillary rise (how much pressure must be applied to drain a “capillary”
a of certain size? How will saturation vary?)

2 σ cos γ
hi =
ρw g r i

Ai = ri π ni
2
 Conceptual steps in estimating K(h) from SWC
1. Extraction of radii distribution of Water Content - θ - [m3 m-3]
capillary radii of the BCC (from SWC)

Matric potential µ - [m]

∆ θV
ni =
π ri
2

2. Hydrodynamics: the volumetric

discharge in full cylindrical tubes µi
according to Poiseuille’s law (Q  r4) ∆θi

2σ
3. Integration of surviving (full) tubes at ri = −
ρ g µi
a potential; performed analytically
(closed-form models) or numerically
(1)
π r 4  ∆P 
Q=  
8η 0  L 

(2)

[Mualem, 1976]

[van Genuchten, 1980]

 Adsorption and capillarity in soils
• Another complication to the “cylindrical capillary” picture of water
retention in soil is the role of adsorptive surface forces (van der Waals
forces, water held by electrical forces associated with DDL, and more)

• Generally, soil water is held within the soil complex

geometry by capillary and by adsorptive surface forces

• Due to practical limitations of present measurement

methods no distinction is made between adsorptive
and capillary forces - all contributions are lumped into
the matric potential (capillary pressure…)

wet dry
 Adsorption and capillarity: decomposing the SWC

• Considering van der Waals forces only, thin h=3

Asvl
liquid films (<100 nm) form under equilibrium 6 π g ρ wψ
in which the thickness of flat adsorbed water
film (h) as a function of matric potential is: Asvl … Hamaker Constant [J] ~ 10-20 J
g … Acceleration of Gravity [m/s2]
ρw … Density of Water [kg/m3]
ψ … Matric Potential [m]

• For known specific surface area (SA)

we may decompose a SWC curve into
capillary and adsorptive contributions:
 Dominance of capillarity near saturation
 Adsorption dominates at SWC dry end
• Consequently, the soil specific surface
area is expected to control water
retention at the SWC dry end

(Or and Tuller, WRR 1999)

 Dry-end of SWC scales with surface area (SA)
• Expressing the “dry end” of SWC in terms of thickness of adsorbed water film (i.e.,
scaling by soil specific surface area) shows remarkable similarity among many soils

• The scaling behavior is in good agreement with theoretical predictions based on

van der Waals adsorption isotherm [Iwamatsu and Horii, 1996]

SWC scaled by SA

θm
h=
SA ⋅ ρ w

Adsorption isotherm

Asvl
h=3
6πg ρ wψ

(Tuller and Or, WRR 2005)

The “inverse problem” – surface area from SWC?
Advanced psychrometric methods (e.g., Decagon WP4) allow fast and reliable
measurement of matric potential at low water contents (the dry end of SWC)

Surface Area in m2/g

Soil Determined - WP4 Reported
Ca+ Montmorillonite 690 760
Promising results for a wide Palouse B 170 203
Salkum 99 51
range of soil textures Walla Walla 70 70
Royal 52 45
L-Soil 21 27
 Capillarity and (unsaturated) porous media mechanics

• Capillary forces exerted by liquid bridges

impart strength onto assemblies of granular
media affecting the mechanics of unsaturated
soils (soil strength, aggregates, sand castles)
• The force exerted by a liquid bridge at the
contact between equal size spheres of radius R:

• For soft aggregates, capillary forces deform

and “sinter” contacts (wet-dry cycles)

(Ghezzehei and Or, WRR 2000)

 Summary – Capillary processes in porous media
• Fundamentals of surface tension and liquid-solid interfacial interactions

• Wettability on surfaces with different chemical and geometrical properties

(Cassie and Wenzel regimes)

• Aspects of capillarity in angular pores (multiphase occupancy and snap-off)

• Capillary rise in angular pores – simple to derive

• Dynamics of capillary rise - Washburn-Lucas equation and inertial regimes

• The role of inertia in pore invasion

• Pore size distribution from SWC

• Adsorption processes at the SWC dry end – decomposing SWC and soil SA

• Capillary forces and unsaturated soil mechanics

Extra Slides
 Selected references/additional reading
• Mason, G., and N. R. Morrow (1991) Capillary behavior of a perfectly wetting liquid in irregular
triangular tubes, J. Colloid Interface Sci., 141, 262–274
• Tuller, M., Or D., and Dudley L.M. (1999) Adsorption and capillary condensation in porous media: liquid
retention and interfacial configurations in angular pores. Water Resources Research 35: 1949–1964
• Bico, J. and D. Quéré (2002) Rise of Liquids and Bubbles in Angular Capillary Tubes, J. Colloid Interface
Sci., 247:162-166
• Fries, N. and M. Dreyer (2008) The transition from inertial to viscous flow in capillary rise , J. Colloid
Interface Sci. 327, 125
• Moebius, F., and D. Or (2012), Interfacial jumps and pressure bursts during fluid displacement in
interacting irregular capillaries, J. Colloid Interface Sci., 377, 406–415
• Quéré, D. (1997), Inertial capillarity, Europhys. Lett., 39(5), 533–538
• Tuller, M., and D. Or (2005) Scaling of characteristic curves at low soil water content. Water Resour.
Res. 41(9), W0940310
• Pitois, O., P. Moucheront, and X. Chateau (2001), Rupture energy of a pendular liquid bridge, Eur. Phys.
J. B, 23(1), 79–86
• Lian, G., C. Thornton, and M. J. Adams (1993) A theoretical study of the liquid bridge forces between
two rigid spherical bodies, J. Colloid Interface Sci., 161, 138–147
• Mani R., D. Kadau, D. Or, and H.J. Herrmann (2012) Fluid depletion in shear bands, Phys. Rev. Lett. 109
(24): 248001
 Capillary evacuation and air entry
• The largest continuous pore within the pore size
distribution defines the first pore to drain
• The pressure required to drain the largest pore in a
sample is called bubbling pressure or air entry value
marking onset of air invading a saturated soil
• This is the elevated air pressure at the atmospheric
side necessary to offset the negative pressure at the
liquid side of the meniscus formed in the largest pore
• The bubbling pressure is important for designing
porous materials that must remain saturated to a
specific pressure (e.g., tensiometer porous cups)
• Emptying of more complex sequence of capillaries
and pore throats is illustrated in the figure

2σ cos γ
r* =
ρw g h *
 Air entry – the two menisci problem… (Chatterjee, 2008)
• For design of pressure plate and other capillary barriers
one must consider displacement of two menisci
• The force balance for a liquid column of length h is:
2σ cos θ
r* =
2σ cos( θT ) 2σ cos( θ B ) ρw g h*
= ρgh +
R R
• Application of air pressure Pa=ρgha would modify the shape of
the menisci according to (bottom now assists top meniscus):

2σ(cos( θT ) + cos( 180 − θ B ))

ρg ( h + ha ) =
R
(a) (b) Pa=haρg
• Defining β = cos( θT ) + cos( 180 − θ B ) θΤ
• Experiments with water and glass
capillaries yield β =1.63
(with θΤ ∼100 and θΒ ∼1300 at bubbling) h
• We thus need to apply a factor of 1.63
to correct for the second meniscus in θΒ θΒ
estimation of critical pressure or pore radius
 Liquid retention in angular pores
• An important aspect of imbibition and drainage in angular pores (in addition to unstable
states) is dual phase occupancy not present in cylindrical geometry
• Pores with higher angularity F(γ ) retain more liquid at a given potential than those with
low angularity (obtuse angles or higher polygons)
• At a critical potential, liquid spontaneously fills up a pore (snap-off) at an interfacial
radius of inscribed circle in the pore cross-section (different than invasion by NW phase)

(1) Pore snap-on (imbibition)

(2) Pore snap-off (drainage)

Shrink-swell affects soil pores at all scales
Microscale Macroscale
(clay fabric) (cracks)

Mesoscale
(texture)
 Clay shrink/swell damage to structures & roads
• Changes in soil water content or solution chemistry of clayey soils induce
swelling pressures sufficiently large to fracture and damage structures & roads
• Estimated damage in excess of $7 billion/yr in the US
Simplest interfacial front model – two connected capillaries
 A pair of hydraulically connected capillaries representing neighboring pores
 Considering capillary, hydrostatic, viscous, and inertial forces
• Force balance
2σ 8η
− cos(θ ) + 2 h1h1 + ρ ( h1h
 + h 2 ) + ρgh
1 1 1
r1 ( h1 ) rv

2σ 8η
=− cos(θ ) + 2 h2 h2 + ρ ( h2 h
 + h 2 ) + ρgh
2 2 2
r2 ( h2 ) rv

1 2 capillary viscous inertial gravit.

term term term term

• Mass conservation
Q = πr1 ( h1 ) 2 h1 + πr2 ( h2 ) 2 h1

(Moebius and Or, 2012 JCIS)

Modeling – a pair of connected capillaries

Modeled displacement Experimental displacement

(Moebius and Or, 2012 JCIS)

 The pair of hydraulically-connected (sinusoidal) capillaries reproduces

characteristics of observed dynamic interfacial jumps
 Extension to pore throat network  next
 Dynamics of capillary rise with gravity
• Gravity could be introduced to the force balance (capillary pull is balanced by
viscous and gravity forces):
dh
2 π rσ cos(γ ) = 8π η h + ρ w ghπr 2
dt
• A simplifying transformation reduces the differential equation to the form:
dh a rσ cos(γ ) ρg r 2
= −b with: a= ; b=
dt h 4η 8η

• The implicit analytic solution with gravity of Washburn(1921):

h a  bh 
t = − − 2 ln1 − 
b b  a 
• This has recently been transformed to an explicit solution h(t), is given (using the
W(x) function also known as ProductLog) as:
 Dynamics of capillary rise with gravity

• The implicit solution with gravity of Washburn(1921) was recently

transformed to an explicit solution h(t), is given (using the W(x) function
also known as ProductLog or Lambert W function) as:
SWC is linked with pore size distribution
The number of capillaries with radius Rj
per unit area at each water content
interval is: nj=∆θv/pRj2 (where ∆θv is
interpreted as the fraction of water-filled
cross sectional area reduced when all
capillaries of radius of Rj drain)

0.020

)
1
0.015

(
r,t
f

0.010

0.005
F

0.000
0 20 40 60 80
Pore Radius r (µm)
Linking SWC and soil pore size distribution

dθ (θ s − θ r ) (n − 1) α n h n −1
= Cw (θ ) =
dh [
1 + (αh) n ]
( 2 −1 n )

2σ
r=
h
 Fixed volume liquid bridge – force/distance relations
• Measurements of force-distance

 
cos(θ + β ) + cos(θ )  D 
Fcap = 2π ⋅ σ ⋅ R ⋅ ⋅ 1 − 
2  V + D2 
 π ⋅R 
D= distance between spheres R= sphere radius
V= liquid bridge volume σ= surface tension
θ= effective contact angle β= half filling angle

• The critical rupture distance is a function=

Drupt 3  θ
V / R3 1 + 
of liquid volume, radius and contact angle R  2
Variable bridge volume - fixed distance (evaporation)
R  2  cos(θ + β ) + cos(θ )  
2

V = π  4r   −D 
2

2   2  

 
cos(θ + β ) + cos(θ )  D 
Fcap = 2π ⋅ σ ⋅ R ⋅ ⋅ 1 − 
2  V + D2 
 π ⋅ R 
• “Corrected” force measurements
with constant filling angle of 400
 Liquid bridges during shearing of granular media
1  θ
=
Drupt V 3
1 + 
 2

(Mani et al., PRL, 2012)

• Contrary to “conventional wisdom” (pore volume expansion with
dilation attract more liquid), the shearing of unsaturated
granular media depletes the shear zone…
 Outlook - Capillary processes in porous media

• Energy state of water in porous media – the water potential

• Water-solid properties (surface tension, wettability, capillarity)
• Wetting of rough and heterogeneous surfaces
• Capillarity in angular pores
• Dynamics of capillary rise
• The role of inertia in capillary processes (oscillations and Haines jumps)
• Linking pore size distribution and capillary water retention
• Adsorption and water films
• Capillary forces and liquid bridges – rupture distance and force
• Summary
 Ecological functions of soil (top layer of the vadose zone)

• Soil is the most biologically active compartment of the

biosphere hosting the largest pool of biodiversity

• Soil is a giant recycling and water filtration system; it

provides most of our needs for food, feed, fiber and
wood, and supports most stocks of global biomass

• Earth life support system - soil functions as Earths' life

support body, a thin film of life covering much of
terrestrial surfaces

• A natural body - soil is a functioning complex natural

body with unique characteristics that cannot be
deduced from a collection of its constituents or
individual processes

(NASA)
 Specific SA determination from measured SWC data

• SWC “dry-end” is dominated by

adsorbed vDW water films, reflects
dominance of specific surface area

• A wide range of soil textures shows

consistent scaling based on soil SA
leading to “universal” SWC slope

dθ 1 Asvl −
4
=
− 3 ⋅ SA ⋅ ρ w ⋅ψ 3
dψ 3 6πρ w g

dθ −
4
=−C ⋅ SA ⋅ψ 3
dψ
SA - SWC = 72 m2/g
• Capillary condensation within roughness SA - EGME= 73 m2/g
or nanopores may affect SWC slope

(Tuller and Or, WRR 2005)

Defining pores – geometry, pressure and invasion volumes

Geometrical pores Imaged invasion event volumes

Pressure deduced pore volumes

Pore volume = waiting time x flow rate

(Moebius and Or, WRR 2014)