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| Development
of Pore-Cor Research Suite | | |
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| New versions |
| Meanwhile version 5.10, released
in January 2005, also contained many new features:
-
The program now has numerous behaviours, according to who manufactures your mercury
porosimeter (although it can now work entirely independently of experimental data)
and how much you want to pay (starting price can now be as low as $675, as you
can see by clicking the Order Form and Prices button
on the left of the screen).
- It
also demonstrates itself with ten locked files covering a wide range of different
materials -see the panel on the right , or download a pdf file with
research level information about these demonstration files. This 'Electronic
Brochure' version is free and time unlimited, so can be installed and uninstalled
as many times, and on as many computers, as you like. Pore-Comp and Pore-Ped also
work with two demonstration files each.
- A
completely automated Simplex to fit your experimental data.
- A
one-click-and-you're-done approach (Pore-Cor Rapid) for carrying out quality control
fits.
The Help system
for version 5.10 can be downloaded from this site.
Meanwhile version 5.20
is already under development, for example with flow mapping as explained in the
June 2005 news item. For a full list of changes
currently under development, see the Latest version
details. |  |
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- Particles
as well as pores
A
new algorithm is available which grows particles at the centre of each group of
eight pores, until each particle touches in three places. These particles or 'skeletal
elements' have been shown to be of the correct size when tested on standard sand.
They give an idea of levels of sedimentation and aggregation in the porous medium,
especially if the sizes of the original constituent particles are known. An
example for cement (one of the Electronic Brochure files mentioned above) can
be seen by clicking Graphic on the right - the particles are shown purple. | 
| - New
types of structure, viewable in Virtual Reality
Pore-Cor
Research Suite has facilities to generate many new types of structure, which are
viewable in Virtual Reality,
so that you can enter the structures yourself
and walk around them to see exactly where the fluids are. For
examples of both static and navigable images, see the
details about Virtual Reality . To
see a screenshot of the new Master data Input screen which specifies the different
structures,
click on Graphic in the right. | |
- Choice
of modelling parameters by means of a Boltzmann-Annealed Simplex
Effectively
we have given Pore-Cor Research Suite a brain, to get over the difficulties of
seemingly arbitrary choice of modelling parameters. Once a definite optimum has
been achieved with the Simplex, a sensitivity analysis
can be carried out with confidence. |
| - Modelling
of the inertial hold-up of fluids entering porous features
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| - Modelling
of anisotropic structures
Pore aspect factor allows modelling of rod-like and plate-like pores and throats,
which are generated by packing of particles with high aspect ratios. Useful for
modelling clays (low aspect factor) and aragonitic precipitated calcium carbonates
(high aspect factor). |
| - Modelling
of fluids entering double-conical rather than cylindrical throats
See Ridgway et al (2001) |
| - Data
archive
Data
archived using a sophisticated database which interfaces with many different parts
of Pore-Cor, and which can be dumped to a .csv file for use in a spreadsheet |
| - Robust
convergence algorithm
Mercury
porosimetry or water retention curves no longer need to be "S" shaped,
and no longer have to extend from 0 to 100% of accessible porosity. The Simplex
fits the data on a robust point by point basis. The goodness of fit is measured
as the average distance from the experimental points to the nearest simulated
point, when the data are plotted on a logarithmic abscissa (horizontal size /
pressure axis) and linear ordinate (vertical % intrusion axis). To see for example
the fit to a clay water retention curve, click on Graphic on the right. |
| - Sensitivity
analysis
The simulated
void structure is not a unique 'inversion' of the mercury intrusion or water retention
curve - other structures could also match the experimental curve. The uniqueness
of the simulated structure can be tested using different stochastic generations,
i.e. families of structures with different pseudo-random number seeds. The smaller
the unit cell size with respect to the representative elementary volume of the
sample, the greater the variation between stochastic generations. The control
to change the stochastic generation is at the bottom of the Master
Data Input screen. The
sensitivity to pairs of fitting parameters can be tested by varying two parameters
- such as throat (size distribution) skew and connectivity, and plotting the results
as a three-dimensional surface, with the distance between the simulated and experimental
intrusion curve on the vertical axis. An example, for a resin-intruded sinter,
can be seen by clicking Graphic on the right. |
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