Once a year, the University of Stuttgart opens its doors. Members of the university show their laboratories, their research, exhibits, or experiments. This year, it took place on June 29 and SFB 1313 participated again with its porous media exhibition for kids and adults.
SFB 1313 film presentation
The SFB 1313 film, that was recently realized, was shown for the first time in the exhibition – a short film of 2:24 min that introduces SFB 1313 and its research interests. It will be published soon on the SFB 1313 website.
Experimenting with porous media
Visitors could take a closer look at various porous media and their different structures – e.g. a sponge, an onion, a coffee filter, coffee powder, sand, paper etc. – at the microscope table. The interfaces of a sponge look quite different from the interfaces of coffee powder.
Two experiment stations allowed a closer look at the characteristics of porous media. One experiment station showed the permeability of porous media. Three plexiglas cylinders, filled with sand and gravel of varying permeability, could be filled with water that ran off. It was easily understandable that the water was running way faster through the cylinder filled with coarse material. The second experiment showed the transport in porous media. A plexiglas model filled with different porous layers filled with water represented the natural subsoil and groundwater situation. Visitors could understand what happens if it rains and if the groundwater gets contaminated with pollutants; where the water flows and why.
