Experimental Poroelasticity

Synopsis

In poroelastic flow problems, the solid phase of the porous structure can undergo significant deformation affecting fluid behaviour and vice versa. Such flow problems are ubiquitous in industry and nature, including fluid absorption in soil or in biological tissue. We have developed a method based on optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging to characterize the poroelastic behaviour of biological tissue. We collect sequences of cross-sectional images of the tissue undergoing flow-induced deformation. We calculate the deformation field and with it determine the parameters of a model for the tissue permeability as a function of strain. We have also demonstrated a method for making artificial poroelastic materials with tunable properties. These artificial poroelastic materials can serve to explore several problems such as techniques for characterizing poroelastic materials. Our results can be applied to several areas, for example to improve intradermal injection and fluid extraction from the skin or to flow control.