Response of saturated porous media to cyclic thermal loading

The response of a semi‐infinite saturated porous medium subjected to a harmonic thermal loading on its free face is studied herein. The pressure diffusion equation that governs the fluctuation of the interstitial pressure is established. It allows us to obtain prevalent parameters, i.e. the thermal and fluid mass diffusivities and the coefficient of relative bulk variation. Closed‐form solutions of the maximum fluid pressure P_max and its location x_cr are derived. It is shown that the location x_cr of P_max is localized and depends on the diffusivity ratio and the frequency of the thermal loading while the magnitude of P_max depends on the diffusivity ratio and the thermal amplitude. Master curves for x_cr and P_max versus diffusivity ratio are built. It follows that three regimes can be distinguished: namely, thin spalling, thick spalling or in‐depth cracking and no cracking. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.