Dielectric spectroscopy of granular material in an electrolytesolution of any ionic strength

The low-frequency dielectric spectroscopy of granular material, where the porosity is representative for sands and sandstones, is until now always modeled using theories based on the work of Schwartz (1962). The theory for the low-frequency dielectric spectroscopy of suspensions, on the other hand, has been developed much further over the last decades both numerically and analytically.

In this article new analytical expressions for the complex conductivity of granular material, such as sands and sandstones in an electrolyte solution, are presented. These expressions have been derived using the theories developed for suspensions. We show that the new expressions enable to predict the measured complex conductivity of various granular material, such as packed glass beads, sands and sandstones. Because of the typical grain size of sand and sandstone particles, for any ionic strength the double layer is much thinner that the particle size. Contrary to existing theories for granular materials, the expressions we derived are valid for any ionic strength and no adjustable parameters are required.

The grains are represented by monodispersed charged spheres. We also discuss how the expressions can be adapted in the case the particles are not spherical and the grains are polydisperse.