Wave propagation in porous media as a function of fluid saturation

An experimental investigation is conducted using dynamic photoelasticity and high speed photography to study the wave propagation due to blast loading in porous media as a function of fluid saturation. The porous media have been modeled as a continuous solid containing particular arrays of holes or voids. The study has focused mainly on the effect of the porous structure on transient pulse propagation as well as the effect of the moisture in the pores on wave propagation. A series of experiments have been conducted using a sheet of Homalite 100 with different geometry of the periodic array of holes. A small amount of explosive was used to generate the stress wave. Dynamic photoelastic photographs were taken with the high speed camera as the wave propagated across the holes. These data are analyzed to obtain the wave velocity as well as the stress-wave attenuation in the porous media. © 1990 Society for Experimental Mechanics, Inc