We experimentally and numerically study the influence of gravity and finite-size effects on the pressure-saturation relationship in a given porous medium during slow drainage. The effect of gravity is systematically varied by tilting the system relative to the horizontal configuration. The use of a quasi two-dimensional porous media allows for direct spatial monitoring of the saturation. Exploiting the fractal nature of the invasion structure, we obtain a relationship between the final saturation and the Bond number S F nw = Bo 0.097 using percolation theory. Moreover, the saturation, pressure, and Bond number are functionally related, allowing for pressure-saturation curves to collapse onto a single master curve, parameterized by the representative elementary volume size and by the Bond and capillary numbers. This allows to upscale the pressure-saturation curves measured in a laboratory to large representative elementary volumes used in reservoir simulations. The large-scale behavior of these curves follows a simple relationship, depending on Bond and capillary numbers, and on the flow direction. The size distribution of trapped defending fluid clusters is also shown to contain information on past fluid flow and can be used as a marker of past flow speed and direction.

We study experimentally the flow and patterning of a granular suspension displaced by air inside a narrow tube. The invading air-liquid interface accumulates a plug of granular material that clogs the tube due to friction with the confining walls. The gas percolates through the static plug once the gas pressure exceeds the pore capillary entry pressure of the packed grains, and a moving accumulation front is reestablished at the far side of the plug. The process repeats, such that the advancing interface leaves a trail of plugs in its wake. Further, we show that the system undergoes a fluidization transition-and complete evacuation of the granular suspension-when the liquid withdrawal rate increases beyond a critical value. An analytical model of the stability condition for the granular accumulation predicts the flow regime.

An experimental observation of the structuring of a granular suspension under the progress of a gas/liquid meniscus in a narrow tube is reported here. The granular material is moved and compactifies as a growing accumulation front. The frictional interaction with the confining walls increases until the pore capillary entry pressure is reached. The gas then penetrates the clogged granular packing and a further accumulation front is formed at the far side of the plug. This cyclic process continues until the gas/liquid interface reaches the tube's outlet, leaving a trail of plugs in the tube. Such 1D pattern formation belongs to a larger family of patterning dynamics observed in 2D Hele-Shaw geometry. The cylindrical geometry considered here provides an ideal case for a theoretical modelling for forced granular matter oscillating between a long frictional phase and a sudden viscous fluidization.