TY  - JOUR
AU  - Dapp, Wolfgang
AU  - Müser, Martin
TI  - Fluid leakage near the percolation threshold
JO  - Scientific reports
VL  - 6
SN  - 2045-2322
CY  - London
PB  - Nature Publishing Group
M1  - FZJ-2016-01144
SP  - 19513
PY  - 2016
AB  - Percolation is a concept widely used in many fields of research and refers to the propagation of substances through porous media (e.g., coffee filtering), or the behaviour of complex networks (e.g., spreading of diseases). Percolation theory asserts that most percolative processes are universal, that is, the emergent powerlaws only depend on the general, statistical features of the macroscopic system, but not on specific details of the random realisation. In contrast, our computer simulations of the leakage through a seal---applying common assumptions of elasticity, contact mechanics, and fluid dynamics---show that the critical behaviour (how the flow ceases near the sealing point) solely depends on the microscopic details of the last constriction. It appears fundamentally impossible to accurately predict from statistical properties of the surfaces alone how strongly we have to tighten a water tap to make it stop dripping and also how it starts dripping once we loosen it again.
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000369154900001
C6  - pmid:26839261
DO  - DOI:10.1038/srep19513
UR  - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/281451
ER  -