This article was submitted to Interdisciplinary Physicss, a section of the journal Frontiers in Physics
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It is widely believed that the microscopic structure affects the macroscopic property of the material. The long geological period leads to a complex micro-structure in geomaterials. Therefore, the microstructure’s effect on the macroscopic property has been a hot topic for many years. This Research Topic includes 62 papers, grouped under the “
The microscopic structure of geomaterials is exceptionally complex with different types of minerals, porosity and fractures. With the development of measuring equipment like scanning electron microscope and micro-CT, the quantitative analysis of the microstructure is possible [
The present micro-structure characterization represented in this Research Topic proposed the state-of-art techniques. Employing these quantitative parameters, it is helpful to explain the effect of microstructure on macroscopic properties like elastic modulus, conductivity and strength.
A laboratory or
Another type of test is for the artificial materials with different components.
The multiscale analysis between the macroscopic behavior and microscopic structure is highly significant in civil engineering. The past several decades witnessed a significant development of multiscale simulation. For analyzing macroscopic behavior like slopes, dams and tunnels, two typical solutions, the multiscale constitution model and the advanced numerical method, are most widely used [
The constitution model to describe the mechanical behavior of the material can date back to the 17th century. Incorporating the microscopic structure in the constitution model is an efficient solution that can be easily used in many commercial and open-source codes.
Due to the limitation of analytical solutions, most multiscale constitution models are established based on the simple assumption. For example, the shape of the pore is spherical, and the crack is penny-shaped in these models. Compared with the multiscale constitution model, a numerical method is applicable for complex shapes.
The main purpose of microscopic structure study is for engineering application. Many famous projects like the Kala hydropower station, Three Gorges reservoir and Changqing oil field are involved in this topic.
QM, WS, and HW summarized the experimental investigation; WW and CZ summarized the multiscale numerical method and engineering application.
This work was financially supported by the Open Research Fund of Key Laboratory of Construction and Safety of Water Engineering of the Ministry of Water Resources, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Grant (No. 202101), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (B200201059), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos 51709089, 51609070).
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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