Capillary penetration of a wetting liquid in a microtomographic image of paper board, whose linear dimension was close to the average length of wood fibers, was simulated by the lattice-Boltzmann method. In spite of the size of the system not being large with respect to the size of structural inhomogeneities in the sample, for unidirectional penetration the simulated behavior was described well by that of the Lucas-Washburn equation, while for radial penetration a radial capillary equation described the behavior. In both cases the average penetration depth of the liquid front as a function of time followed a power law over many orders of magnitude. Capillary penetration of small droplets of liquid was also simulated in the same three-dimensional image of paper. In this case the simulation results could be described by a generalized form of the radial-penetration equation.

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Fiber suspensions, such as microfibrillated cellulose, are a challenge for conventional rheometers to measure. This is because rheometers have small flow channel dimensions that can restrict flocculation. Often, questionable assumptions are also made about the fluid behavior in the gap. A pipe rheometer and ultrasound velocity profiling-pressure difference (UVP-PD) concept can be used, by which the real flow behavior is used for the rheological analysis of the bulk properties of the suspension. Unfortunately, the resolution of UVP is too low for studying near-wall phenomena, such as the lubrication layer, that are often very important for understanding the rheology and to upscale the results to industrial flows. To address this problem, we have widened the UVP-PD concept with optical coherence tomography measurements. This enables us to measure the bulk and wall-layer behavior simultaneously. Our results demonstrate the benefits of having direct, detailed measurement of the velocity profile inside the rheometer.