The dependence of gravitation stabilized invasion fronts on pore size noise

The picture shows a gravitational stabilized front in a quasi 2D model  with a monolayer of randomly distributed glass beads. Air is invading  a  20% (by weight) water  glycerol solution. Picture from PoreLab UiO.

The project will concern two phase flow in porous media when a lighter non wetting, and non miscible fluid, is  injected into a wetting fluid with a higher density. If the experiments are  performed at low injection rates the important  forces that play a role are the capillary and the gravitational force. In our lab at UiO we can 3D print quasi two dimensional porous  models.  In these 3D printed models we can systematically tune the distribution of the  pore throats in such a way that we  can go from a system where all throats are  almost equally sized  to a situation with a  wide pore size distribution. By tilting these models  at an angle  relative to the ground we can tune the gravitational field in a controlled way .  When the lighter fluid is injected into the more heavy fluid from the top, the gravitational field tends to stabilize the invasion front and make it flat (se image). The width of the front will increase  with a decreasing tilting angle and will diverge when the tilting angle goes to zero (parallel to the ground).  The  width of the invasion fronts  will further depend on the noise level of pore throats.  A wider pore throat distribution will give a wider  front.   In this project we will investigate how width of the front  depends on the pore throat distribution.  In the past, experiments and simulations have  been performed to investigate how the strength of the gravitational field   stabilized the invasion front. However, no systematic experiments that  investigate the dependence on the pore size distribution have been performed so far, which in itself will be the topic of this project.  A theoretical prediction exists for  the expected scaling of the front with respect to the width of the capillary pressure distribution.

Emneord: Njord, flow, pore, PoreLab, fluid, experiment, 3D, Printing
Publisert 21. sep. 2020 15:24 - Sist endret 11. okt. 2022 09:36

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