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In order to investigate drying mechanisms at different stages, the distribution of water within the ceramic green bodies at different scales has been examined. The experimental measurements, using a simple weighing technique and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), show that during the first stage of drying involving shrinkage the material is constituted of uniquely solid and water with no gradient in water content within the sample. Then, during the second stage of drying, significant differences of water content as a function of position appear. As a complement, at the grain scale, observations using environmental scanning electron microscopy were made giving useful information on the solid–liquid–gas interfaces in the near surface part of the green body. Finally, the gradients in the water distribution were exploited to make a simple estimate of the diffusion coefficient of water with its dependence on the moisture content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The temporal and spatial distribution of water within a porous medium is affected by the medium’s structure, i.e., the spatial arrangement of its constituents. To analyze structural effects on the fluid dynamics, we measured the 3D water content distribution in a heterogeneous sand column during two drainage-wetting cycles using neutron transmission tomography. The sample with a volume of 105cm3 contained 101 cubes of fine and 49 cubes of coarse sand with particles ranging from 0.01 to 0.05 and 0.03 to 0.09cm, respectively. The pressure at the lower boundary was determined by the water reservoir positioned between 7 and 39cm below the top of the column. The duration of one complete 3D scanning with a spatial resolution of 127μm was 56s. The signal to noise ratio of the measurements was low due to the short exposure time in the neutron beam, but it was possible to quantify the water content in the individual cubes and hence the effect of structure on macroscopic water distribution. Continuous structures of coarse sand drained faster than coarse sand without connection to the upper boundary. During the initial wetting phase, cubes of coarse sand material completely embedded in the fine material remained water unsaturated due to air entrapment. The effect of the coarse sand connectivity was analyzed in two-dimensional numerical simulations based on Richards equation. In contrast to the measurements, no effect of structure connectivity was found. The coarse sand cubes embedded within the fine matrix drain as quickly as the coarse sand cubes arranged in a continuous channel due to the model assumption of a continuous air phase. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]