Molecular Interactions Influence Barrier and Mechanical Properties in Swelling Clays: A Multiscale Modeling and Experimental Investigation

Swelling clays have been materials of great interest in geotechnical engineering, environmental engineering and petroleum engineering for decades, and have recently drawn attention from other fields, such as materials engineering, and pharmaceutical sciences. These clays are known to cause significant distress to infrastructure and light structures, as a result of swelling and swelling pressure. These clays have been used as barrier materials, for example in the form of geosynthetic clay liners and as drilling mud. In this paper, we describe a multiscale modeling and experimental approach that relates molecular interactions between swelling clay mineral Na-montmorillonite and fluids, of wide range of dielectric properties to the evolution of microstructure and macroscopic properties such as permeability, swelling pressure, compressibility and consolidation. Modeling and experiments are conducted at various length scales from molecular to macroscale., This comprehensive experimental and modeling investigation provides a clear picture of how molecular interactions between clays and fluids influence important properties of swelling clays.