No label defined (Q4423243)

In problems of conduction and fluid flow through complex random media, systems with a broad distribution in the local properties are often encountered. Here we introduce a continuum percolation model for such media, which is exactly solvable for the effective transport properties in the high disorder limit. The model represents such systems as fluid flowing through consolidated granular media and fractured rocks, as well as electrical conduction in some matrix-particle composites near critical volume fractions. Moreover, the results provide a rigorous basis for the widely used Ambegaokar, Halperin, and Langer critical path analysis [\textit{V. Ambegaokar, B. I. Halperin} and \textit{J. S. Langer}, Phys. Rev. B (3) 4, No. 8, 2612--2620 (1971)]. This method rests on the proposition that transport in media with a broad range of local conductances \(g\) is dominated by a critical conductance \(g_c\), which is the smallest conductance such that the set \(\{g| g>g_c\}\) percolates, and in our model this proposition is rigorously established.'' For the entire collection see [Zbl 0924.00012].