Preface on physicochemical and electromechanical interactions in porous media

Abstract. The focus of science and engineering shifts towards smaller length scales. Porous media mechanics has a vital role to play in the translation of microstructural data into macroscopic models of multicomponent systems. As the length scales shrink, more fundamental levels of understand-ing of natural laws, cause the boundaries between disciplines to blur. In particular, geosciences, polymer sciences and biosciences find a common ground of interest in high specific surface mixtures. Key words: living cells, biomechanics, geomechanics, high specific surface. The focus of technological development is shifting towards smaller length scales. The development of advanced experimental techniques allows us to fathom more subtle levels of the material than ever before. The advent of cheap and high com-putational power opens the way to translate measured material properties on the molecular level towards workable macroscopic models which are useful for techno-logical applications in industry and medical practice. A spin-off of these develop-ments is that as one moves towards the molecular level, the boundaries between the different disciplines of engineering fade away. Multi-physics problems are the rul