Neutron radiography determination of water diffusivity in fired clay brick

The real time neutron and gamma radiography station at Maria reactor, Institute of Atomic Energy, Swierk, Poland, was used to investigate the isothermal water absorption into fired clay brick samples. The investigated brick is different from the bricks reported in El Abd and Milczarek [2004. Neutron radiology study of water absorption in porous building materials: anomalous diffusing analysis. J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 37, 2305-2313] in density and chemical composition. Neutron radiography images were acquired regularly as the absorption time elapses. The water content, theta, along the flow direction, x, namely the water profiles theta(x,t) and the water front position as a function of the absorption time, t, were extracted from neutron radiography images. The results were discussed in terms of the macroscopic theory of water infiltration in unsaturated porous media. It was shown that the water front position followed the square root t-scaling (x(m)=phi(m) square root t) and the profiles (theta-phi) converged to a universal one master curve. The water diffusivity was analytically determined from the experimental results. It has the so-called hypo-diffusive character, namely its gradient with respect to the water content is positive. Neutron radiography is a powerful method to distinguish among the unsaturated flow in different porous construction materials.