Challenges of porous media models in geo- and biomechanical engineering including electro-chemically active polymers and gels

Abstract

Miscible multi-component materials like classical mixtures as well as immiscible materials like saturated and partially saturated porous media can be successfully described on the common basis of the well-founded Theory of Mixtures (TM) or the Theory of Porous Media (TPM). In particular, both the TM and the TPM provide an excellent framework for a macroscopic description of a broad variety of applications ranging, for example, from standard and sophisticated problems in geomechanics via biomechanical applications to electro-chemically active polymers and gels, etc. The present article portrays general multiphasic and multi-component materials, thus reflecting their mechanical and their thermodynamical framework, while furthermore adding electro-chemical effects. Including some constitutive models and illustrative numerical examples, the article can be understood as a reference to theoretical and numerical investigations in the broad field of porous media models.