Thermodynamic approach to effective stress in partially saturated porous media (Q5947192)

The authors derive an expression for equilibrium effective stress acting on the solid phase of a porous medium containing two immiscible fluid phases. The derivation makes use of the thermodynamics of the system at a macroscale (a scale of the order of tens of pore diameters, but much smaller than the entire system). This scale in also referred to as the core scale or Darcy scale. At this scale, geometric quantities such as porosity, saturation, and interfacial area per volume can be meaningfully defined and included in the analysis. A macroscale point thus includes a mix of phase interfaces, and the common line where the interfaces are of interest. The analysis leads to an expression for capillary pressure as a function of phase pressures and the disjoining pressure.