Drop formation in non-Newtonian fluids.

We study the pinch-off dynamics of droplets of yield stress and shear thinning fluids. To separate the two non-Newtonian effects, we use a yield stress material for which the yield stress can be tuned without changing the shear thinning behavior, and a shear thinning system (without a yield stress) for which the shear thinning can be controlled over a large range, without introducing too much elasticity into the system. We find that the pinch-off remains very similar to that of constant viscosity Newtonian liquids, and consequently thinning in shear flow does not imply a thinning in elongational flow.

Shear banding in thixotropic and normal emulsions.

When made to flow, yield stress materials rarely flow homogeneously. This is mostly attributed to the fact that such materials show a transition from a solid- to a liquid-like state when the stress exceeds some critical value: the yield stress. Thus, if the stress is heterogeneous, so is the flow. Here we consider emulsion flows in a cone-plate geometry that, for Newtonian fluids, correspond to a homogeneous stress situation and show that shear banding can also be observed either due to wall slip or to the existence of a critical shear rate. By means of velocity profiles obtained using a confocal laser scanning microscope combined with a rheometer we conclude that the last type of shear banding occurs only in thixotropic yield stress materials.

Damage in porous media due to salt crystallization.

We investigate the origins of salt damage in sandstones for the two most common salts: sodium chloride and sulfate. The results show that the observed difference in damage between the two salts is directly related to the kinetics of crystallization and the interfacial properties of the salt solutions and crystals with respect to the stone. We show that, for sodium sulfate, the existence of hydrated and anhydrous crystals and specifically their dissolution and crystallization kinetics are responsible for the damage. Using magnetic resonance imaging and optical microscopy we show that when water imbibes sodium sulfate contaminated sandstones, followed by drying at room temperature, large damage occurs in regions where pores are fully filled with salts. After partial dissolution, anhydrous sodium sulfate salt present in these regions gives rise to a very rapid growth of the hydrated phase of sulfate in the form of clusters that form on or close to the remaining anhydrous microcrystals. The rapid growth of these clusters generates stresses in excess of the tensile strength of the stone leading to the damage. Sodium chloride only forms anhydrous crystals that consequently do not cause damage in the experiments.

Salt crystallization during evaporation: impact of interfacial properties.

Salt damage in stone results in part from crystallization of salts during drying. We study the evaporation of aqueous salt solutions and the crystallization growth for sodium sulfate and sodium chloride in model situations: evaporating droplets and evaporation from square capillaries. The results show that the interfacial properties are of key importance for where and how the crystals form. The consequences for the different forms of salt crystallization observed in practice are discussed.

Delayed fracture in porous media.

The fracture of porous media subjected to a constant load is studied. Contrary to homogeneous solids in which fracture usually happens instantaneously at a well-defined breaking strength, the fracture of a porous medium can occur with a delay, allowing us to quantify the average lifetime of the unbroken material. We show that the average fracture probability, a key property for risk analysis in civil engineering, is given by the probability of crack nucleation. The nucleation process can be understood qualitatively by calculating the activation energy for crack nucleation, taking into account the porosity of the medium.