Modelling the poroelasticity of rocks and ice

For many geophysical and astrophysical applications the relationship between physical bulk properties and porosity is needed. As part of the preparation for the ‘Rosetta’ comet rendezvous mission, a simple model for the porosity dependence of the elastic properties of granular media, i.e. the elastic moduli and the propagation velocities of elastic waves, has been developed based on textural properties and the contact stiffness of the constituent particles. It is shown that the derived relationships fit very well with sandstone data. The model is also consistent with data for snow and ice and is in agreement with the transformation mechanisms from snow to ice. A short review shows the relevance to another physical bulk property, the thermal conductivity.