Dynamic neutron radiography was applied to obtain the experimental data concerning the kinetics of the wetting process in two different types (fired-clay and siliceous brick) of porous construction materials. The technique provides accurate experimental data concerning the first instants as well as the advanced stages of the imbibing process. A significant difference in water absorption parameters, contrasting the materials studied, is found. Both the advance of the wetting front and the time evolution of water content distribution within the sample are analysed. It is shown that for both materials the time dependence of the wetting front position d deviates from the classical square root of time t behaviour. The deviation is analysed in terms of the intercept b in the approximation and the exponent n in the power law d ∼ tn/2. Both materials differ in the sign of the intercept parameter: b > 0 for siliceous brick and b < 0 for fired-clay brick. Two stages of the process with different values of the power law exponent were observed. The advanced period exponents are different for each type of brick: n < 1 for siliceous brick and n > 1 for fired-clay brick. At the initial stages (t < 1000 s) the exponents are substantially less than 1 and smaller than those describing the advanced process. The initial stage exponents are lower for the siliceous brick samples. It is shown that the experimental water content profiles collapse to a single curve when plotted against the variable xt−n/2. The evolution of the distribution of liquid in the porous medium was analysed in terms of the anomalous diffusion equation of Küntz and Lavallée (2001 Experimental evidence and theoretical analysis of anomalous diffusion during water infiltration in porous building materials J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 34 2547–54) based on the non-linear generalization of the Fick's law. This approach makes a detailed analysis of the generalized hydraulic diffusivity in the low water content region possible. Successful fitting of experimental data with the diffusivity vanishing at null water content proved the importance of the hypodiffusive component of the process.

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Two different porous building materials have been previously measured and analysed (El-Abd and Milczarek, 2004, IEEE Trans. Nuclear Sci.; El-Abd et al., 2004, J. Phys. D) using neutron radiography to measure the water front position over time. The results from this experimental approach show a similar behaviour to the predictions from idealised model structures, in that there is a cross over point where the fastest rate of absorption at first favours the finer structure material and at later times favours the coarser pore structure material. The computer model, Pore-Cor is used to generate the idealised structures and the absorption of fluid into porous structures follows a Bosanquet wetting algorithm for fluids undergoing both inertial and viscous dynamical flow (Ridgway and Gane, 2002, Colloids Surfaces A: Physicochem. Eng. Aspects 206, 217-239.). The model structures comprise cubic pores connected by cylindrical throats on a threedimensional 10 × 10 × 10 position matrix simulating the void structure of porous media by fitting as closely as possible the modelled mercury intrusion curve to that of the experimentally determined mercury intrusion curve of the actual sample. They show the transition that occurs in the absorption behaviour from the linear t-dependent short timescale inertial regime to the familiar √ t Lucas-Washburn viscous regime. The simulated absorption algorithm applied to these model structures also shows a fluid position behaviour that replicates qualitatively, given the limitation of representative sample volume, the cross over seen experimentally. Furthermore, the existence of a preferred wetting path is demonstrated in the experimental as well as the model wetting front behaviour. In the case of the structure containing the broader range of pore sizes, the wetting front is considered to proceed by a network of optimal size combinations (inertial wetting versus viscous drag) and connectivity, leaving some pores behind the wetting front unfilled or only partially filled.

The spontaneous imbibition of water into the matrix and gas-filled fractures of unsaturated porous media is an important phenomenon in many geotechnical applications. Previous studies have focused on the imbibition behavior of water in the matrix, but few works have considered spontaneous imbibition along fractures. In this work, a new fractal model, considering the water losses from the fracture to the matrix, was established to predict the sorptivity of rough-walled fracture. A fractal model, considering the fractal dimension of tortuosity, was modified to estimate the sorptivity of the matrix. Both of the models have a time exponent α and can be simplified to the classical Lucas-Washburn (L-W) equation with α = 0.50. To verify the proposed models, quantitative data on the imbibition of water in both the matrix and the fracture of unsaturated sandstone were acquired by neutron radiography. The results show that the motion of the wetting front in both the matrix and the fracture does not obey the L-W equation. Both theory and experimental observations indicate that fracture can significantly increase spontaneous imbibition in unsaturated sandstone by

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