42688-AC9
The Role of Capillarity in Mobilization of Disaggregated Materials from Collapsed Perforations
Narrative progress report for Period 9/1/2007 to 8/31/2008
I slowed down the project in the current fiscal year because the MS student who worked on this project finished her MS and it took me several months to find a post doctor to continue the work. The progresses this year are in two areas: (1) completing laboratory testing of tensile strength of sand, and (2) redesigning and fabricating a new tensile strength apparatus. The new apparatus has a much wider range of measurement for tensile strength (up to 1,000 kPa). The major results are reported in a paper entitled "Tensile Strength of Unsaturated Sand," and the paper was submitted to Journal of Engineering Mechanics for publication.
The post doctor was hired as a faculty member (lecturer) here at Colorado School of Mines, starting September 2008.
For the remaining balance, I will support a new Ph.D. student (Ms. Basak Sener) for another 8 months conducting tensile strength of loose sand and consolidated sand stone, using the new apparatus. We will try to present the result in a conference and draft a paper for journal publication.
We requested the PRF to have a no-cost extension for this project, and the request was approved by the PRF on August 20, 2008.
