Poromechanics Parameters of Fluid-Saturated Chemically Active Fibrous Media Derived from a Micromechanical Approach

The authors have derived macroscale poromechanics parameters for chemically active saturated fibrous media by combining microstructure-based homogenization with Hill's volume averaging. The stress-strain relationship of the dry fibrous media is first obtained by considering the fiber behavior. The constitutive relationships applicable to saturated media are then derived in the poromechanics framework using Hill's Lemmas. The advantage of this approach is that the resultant continuum model assumes a form suited to study porous materials, while retaining the effect of discrete fiber deformation. As a result, the model is able to predict the influence of microscale phenomena such as fiber buckling on the overall behavior, and in particular, on the poromechanics constants. The significance of the approach is demonstrated using the effect of drainage and fiber nonlinearity on monotonic compressive stress-strain behavior. The model predictions conform to the experimental observations for articular cartilage. The method can potentially be extended to other porous materials such as bone, clays, foams, and concrete.