Direct numerical simulation of wave propagation in saturated random granular packings using coupled LBM-DEM

Poroelasticity theory predicts wave velocities in a saturated porous medium through a coupling between the bulk deformation of the solid skeleton and porous fluid flow. The challenge emerges below the characteristic wavelengths at which hydrodynamic interactions between grains and pore fluid become important. We investigate the pressure and volume fraction dependence of compressional- and shear-wave velocities in fluid-saturated, random, isotropic, frictional granular packings. The lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) and discrete element method (DEM) are two-way coupled to capture the particle-pore fluid interactions; an acoustic source is implemented to insert a traveling wave from the fluid reservoir to the saturated medium. We extract wave velocities from the acoustic branches in the wavenumber-frequency space, for a range of confining pressures and volume fractions. For random isotropic granular media the pressure-wave velocity data collapse on a single curve when scaled properly by the volume fraction.