Imbibition in disordered media

Alava, Mikko J.; Dubé, Marc A.; Rost, Martin

doi:10.1080/00018730410001687363

Cited by 289 publications

(356 citation statements)

References 328 publications

(597 reference statements)

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“…These wettabilitycontrolled mechanisms have a fundamental impact on multiphase flow, making them challenging but essential ingredients in porescale and continuum-scale descriptions. Our microfluidics study of the fundamental mechanisms paves the way for the interpretation and further investigation of wettability control on multiphase flow in natural porous media, which often exhibit spatial heterogeneity in wettability (47,48), surface roughness (43,49), and preexisting wetting layers (50).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wettability control on multiphase flow in patterned microfluidics

Zhao

MacMinn

Juanes

2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

491

480

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Multiphase flow in porous media is important in many natural and industrial processes, including geologic CO 2 sequestration, enhanced oil recovery, and water infiltration into soil. Although it is well known that the wetting properties of porous media can vary drastically depending on the type of media and pore fluids, the effect of wettability on multiphase flow continues to challenge our microscopic and macroscopic descriptions. Here, we study the impact of wettability on viscously unfavorable fluid-fluid displacement in disordered media by means of high-resolution imaging in microfluidic flow cells patterned with vertical posts. By systematically varying the wettability of the flow cell over a wide range of contact angles, we find that increasing the substrate's affinity to the invading fluid results in more efficient displacement of the defending fluid up to a critical wetting transition, beyond which the trend is reversed. We identify the pore-scale mechanisms-cooperative pore filling (increasing displacement efficiency) and corner flow (decreasing displacement efficiency)-responsible for this macroscale behavior, and show that they rely on the inherent 3D nature of interfacial flows, even in quasi-2D media. Our results demonstrate the powerful control of wettability on multiphase flow in porous media, and show that the markedly different invasion protocols that emerge-from pore filling to postbridging-are determined by physical mechanisms that are missing from current pore-scale and continuum-scale descriptions.porous media | capillarity | wettability | microfluidics | pattern formation M ultiphase flow in porous media is important in many natural and industrial processes, including geologic CO 2 sequestration (1), enhanced oil recovery (2), water infiltration into soil (3), and transport in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (4). Much of the research on multiphase flow in porous media has focused on the effect of fluid properties and flow conditions. Much less emphasis has been given to the fluids' affinity to the porous media (i.e., wettability), even though wettability has a profound influence on fluid-fluid interactions in the presence of a solid surface (5-7). Despite recent advances in our ability to accurately measure wettability under reservoir conditions (8, 9), and to engineer wettability in the subsurface (10-13), the complex physics of wetting continues to challenge our microscopic and macroscopic descriptions (14).Fluid-fluid displacement in the presence of a solid surface can be characterized as either drainage or imbibition, depending on the system's wettability. Drainage refers to the regime where the invading fluid is less wetting to the solid surface than the defending fluid. Imbibition refers to the opposite case, where the invading fluid is more wetting to the solid surface than the defending fluid. Drainage in porous media has been studied extensively through laboratory experiments and computer simulations (15-18), and we now have a fairly good understanding of the different displacement ...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wettability control on multiphase flow in patterned microfluidics

Zhao

MacMinn

Juanes

2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

491

480

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“…Wetting and infiltration studies have highlighted the relevance of surface and pore microstructures (Alava, Dube, & Rost, 2004;Grzelakowski et al, 2009;Quéré, 2008). The importance of pore characteristics has also gained general acceptance for the processing route of C/SiC composites (Gadow & Speicher, 2000;Israel et al, 2010;Paik …”

Section: Capillary Systems and Simulation Settingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lattice Boltzmann simulations on the role of channel structure for reactive capillary infiltration

Sergi

Grossi

Leidi

et al. 2015

Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics

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It is widely recognized that the structure of porous media is of relevance for a variety of mechanical and physical phenomena. The focus of the present work is on capillarity, a pore-scale process occurring at the micron scale. We attempt to characterize the influence of pore shape for capillary infiltration by means of Lattice Boltzmann simulations in 2D with reactive boundaries leading to surface growth and ultimately to pore closure. The systems under investigation consist of single channels with different simplified morphologies: namely, periodic profiles with sinusoidal, step-shaped and zigzag walls, as well as constrictions and expansions with rectangular, convex and concave steps. This is a useful way to break the complexity of typical porous media down into basic structures. The simulations show that the minimum radius alone fails to properly characterize the infiltration dynamics. The structure of the channels emerges as the dominant property controlling the process. A factor responsible for this behavior is identified as being the occurrence of the pinning of the contact line. It turns out that the optimal configuration for the pore structure arises from the packing of large particles with round shapes. In this case, the probability of having wide and straight flow paths is higher. Faceted surfaces with sharp edges should be avoided because of the phenomenon of pinning near narrow-to-wide parts. This study is motivated by the infiltration of molten metals into carbon preforms. This is a manufacturing technique for ceramic components devised for advanced applications. Guidelines for experimental work are discussed.

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“…The dynamics of wetting fronts in porous media remains the subject of intensive research (Adler & Brenner 1988;Olbricht 1996;Alava et al 2004). Its main motivation comes, first of all, from a host of important applications, notably in oil recovery, hydrogeology and more recently also in carbon dioxide sequestration, microfluidics and fuel cells.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wetting front dynamics in an isotropic porous medium

Shikhmurzaev

Sprittles

2012

J. Fluid Mech.

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A new approach to the modelling of wetting fronts in porous media on the Darcy scale is developed, based on considering the types (modes) of motion the menisci go through on the pore scale. This approach is illustrated using a simple model case of imbibition of a viscous incompressible liquid into an isotropic porous matrix with two modes of motion for the menisci, the wetting mode and the threshold mode. The latter makes it necessary to introduce an essentially new technique of conjugate problems that allows one to link threshold phenomena on the pore scale with the motion on the Darcy scale. The developed approach (a) makes room for incorporating the actual physics of wetting on the pore scale, (b) brings in the physics associated with pore-scale thresholds, which determine when sections of the wetting front will be brought to a halt (pinned), and, importantly, (c) provides a regular framework for constructing models of increasing complexity.

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Imbibition in disordered media

Cited by 289 publications

References 328 publications

Wettability control on multiphase flow in patterned microfluidics

Wettability control on multiphase flow in patterned microfluidics

Lattice Boltzmann simulations on the role of channel structure for reactive capillary infiltration

Wetting front dynamics in an isotropic porous medium

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