A Multi-Scale Study of Water Dynamics under Confinement, Exploiting Numerical Simulations in Relation to NMR Relaxometry, PGSE and NMR Micro-Imaging Experiments: An Application to the Clay/Water Interface.

Water mobility within the porous network of dense clay sediments was investigated over a broad dynamical range by using H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Multi-quanta H NMR spectroscopy and relaxation measurements were first performed to identify the contributions of the various relaxation mechanisms monitoring the time evolution of the nuclear magnetisation of the confined heavy water. Secondly, multi-quanta spin-locking NMR relaxation measurements were then performed over a broad frequency domain, probing the mobility of the confined water molecules on a time-scale varying between microseconds and milliseconds.

A general orientation distribution function for clay-rich media.

The role of the preferential orientation of clay platelets on the properties of a wide range of natural and engineered clay-rich media is well established. However, a reference function for describing the orientation of clay platelets in these different materials is still lacking. Here, we conducted a systematic study on a large panel of laboratory-made samples, including different clay types or preparation methods.

Water Mobility within Compacted Clay Samples: Multi-Scale Analysis Exploiting H NMR Pulsed Gradient Spin Echo and Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Water Density Profiles.

H NMR pulsed gradient spin echo attenuation and water density profile analysis by magnetic resonance imaging are both used to determine the mobility of water molecules confined within a porous network of compacted kaolinite clay sample (total porosity of ∼50%). These two complementary experimental procedures efficiently probe molecular diffusion within time scales varying between milliseconds and few hours, filling the gap between the time scale of diffusion dynamics measured by traditional quasi elastic neutron scattering and through-diffusion methods. Furthermore, magnetic resonance imaging is a nondestructive investigation tool that is able to assess the effect of the local structure on the macroscopic mobility of the diffusing probe.

Modeling the arrangement of particles in natural swelling-clay porous media using three-dimensional packing of elliptic disks.

Swelling clay minerals play a key role in the control of water and pollutant migration in natural media such as soils. Moreover, swelling clay particles' orientational properties in porous media have significant implications for the directional dependence of fluid transfer. Herein we investigate the ability to mimic the organization of particles in natural swelling-clay porous media using a three-dimensional sequential particle deposition procedure [D.

Numerical study of density functional theory with mean spherical approximation for ionic condensation in highly charged confined electrolytes.

We investigate numerically a density functional theory (DFT) for strongly confined ionic solutions in the canonical ensemble by comparing predictions of ionic concentration profiles and pressure for the double-layer configuration to those obtained with Monte Carlo (MC) simulations and the simpler Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) approach. The DFT consists of a bulk (ion-ion) and an ion-solid part. The bulk part includes nonideal terms accounting for long-range electrostatic and short-range steric correlations between ions and is evaluated with the mean spherical approximation and the local density approximation.