arXiv subjects

M. Prat

Publications and source records attributed to M. Prat.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Self-similarity in creeping salt crystallization

The self-amplifying creeping of salts can produce striking macroscopic structures, such as desert roses in arid regions and salt pillars near saline lakes. While these formations are visually remarkable, salt crystallization, often seen as efflorescence on surfaces, also poses significant challenges for cultural heritage conservation, materials science, and soil management. In this study, we investigate the mechanisms underlying self-organized crystallization within efflorescence deposits. Our findings reveal that these porous salt deposits exhibit pronounced self-similarity, with the crystallization process recurring at multiple length scales. This results in smaller replicas of the overall structure nested within larger ones, creating fractal geometries similar to those found in cauliflower and broccoli. By performing controlled evaporation experiments and microscale analysis using advanced imaging techniques combined with fractal dimension analysis, we uncover the hierarchical and size-controlled precipitation of cubic microcrystals within the porous efflorescence. Furthermore, we develop a hierarchical growth model demonstrating that the ultimate height of the macroscopic salt deposit is primarily determined by the initial mass of salt, rather than by the interplay of capillary and viscous forces when salt solution flows within the porous salt structure.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2018

Ion Transport and Precipitation Kinetics as Key Aspects of Stress Generation on Pore Walls Induced by Salt Crystallization

The stress generation on pore walls due to the growth of a sodium chloride crystal in a confined aqueous solution is studied from evaporation experiments in microfluidic channels in conjunction with numerical computations of crystal growth. The study indicates that the stress build-up on the pore walls as the result of the crystal growth is a highly transient process taking place over a very short period of time (in less than 1s in our experiments). The analysis makes clear that what matters for the stress generation is not the maximum supersaturation at the onset of the crystal growth but the supersaturation at the interface between the solution and the crystal when the latter is about to be confined between the pore walls. It is shown that the stress generation can be characterized with a simple stress diagram involving the pore aspect ratio and the Damkh{ö}ler number characterizing the competition between the precipitation reaction kinetics and the ion transport towards the growing crystal. This opens up the route for a better understanding of the damage of porous materials induced by salt crystallization, an important issue in earth sciences, reservoir engineering and civil engineering.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2009

Influence of wettability on liquid water transport in gas diffusion layer of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC)

Water management is a key factor that limits PEFC's performance. We show how insights into this problem can be gained from pore-scale simulations of water invasion in a model fibrous medium. We explore the influence of contact angle on the water invasion pattern and water saturation at breakthrough and show that a dramatic change in the invasion pattern, from fractal to compact, occurs as the system changes from hydrophobic to hydrophilic. Then, we explore the case of a system of mixed wettability, i.e. containing both hydrophilic and hydrophobic pores. The saturation at breakthrough is studied as a function of the fraction of hydrophilic pores. The results are discussed in relation with the water management problem, the optimal design of a GDL and the fuel cell performance degradation mechanisms. We outline how the study could be extended to 3D systems, notably from binarised images of GDLs obtained by X ray microtomography.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2009

Influence of contact angle on slow evaporation in two-dimensional porous media

We study numerically the influence of contact angle on slow evaporation in two-dimensional model porous media. For sufficiently low contact angles, the drying pattern is fractal and can be predicted by a simple model combining the invasion percolation model with the computation of the diffusive transport in the gas phase. The overall drying time is minimum in this regime and is independent of contact angle over a large range of contact angles up to the beginning of a transition zone. As the contact angle increases in the transition region, the cooperative smoothing mechanisms of the interface become important and the width of the liquid gas interface fingers that form during the evaporation process increases. The mean overall drying time increases in the transition region up to an upper bound which is reached at a critical contact angle Θ_c. The increase in the drying time in the transition region is explained in relation with the diffusional screening phenomenon associated with the Laplace equation governing the vapor transport in the gas phase. Above Θ_c the drying pattern is character- ized by a flat traveling front and the mean overall drying time becomes independent of the contact angle. Drying time fluctuations are studied and are found to be important below Θ_c, i.e., when the pattern is fractal. The fluctuations are of the same order of magnitude regardless of the value of contact angle in this range. The fluctuations are found to die out abruptly at Θ_c as the liquid gas interface becomes a flat front.

cond-mat.soft↗