Controlling capillary fingering using pore size gradients in disordered media
| Autor: | Nancy B. Lu, Daniel B. Amchin, Christopher A. Browne, Sujit S. Datta, Janine K. Nunes |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Předmět: |
Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes
Pore size Materials science Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech) Capillary action Microfluidics Fluid Dynamics (physics.flu-dyn) Computational Mechanics FOS: Physical sciences Disordered Systems and Neural Networks (cond-mat.dis-nn) Pattern Formation and Solitons (nlin.PS) Physics - Fluid Dynamics Condensed Matter - Soft Condensed Matter Condensed Matter - Disordered Systems and Neural Networks Nonlinear Sciences - Pattern Formation and Solitons Chemical physics Modeling and Simulation Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft) Porous medium Condensed Matter - Statistical Mechanics |
| Zdroj: | Physical Review Fluids. 4 |
| ISSN: | 2469-990X |
| DOI: | 10.1103/physrevfluids.4.084303 |
| Popis: | Capillary fingering is a displacement process that can occur when a non-wetting fluid displaces a wetting fluid from a homogeneous disordered porous medium. Here, we investigate how this process is influenced by a pore size gradient. Using microfluidic experiments and computational pore-network models, we show that the non-wetting fluid displacement behavior depends sensitively on the direction and the magnitude of the gradient. The fluid displacement depends on the competition between a pore size gradient and pore-scale disorder; indeed, a sufficiently large gradient can completely suppress capillary fingering. By analyzing capillary forces at the pore scale, we identify a non-dimensional parameter that describes the physics underlying these diverse flow behaviors. Our results thus expand the understanding of flow in complex porous media, and suggest a new way to control flow behavior via the introduction of pore size gradients. In press, Physical Review Fluids (2019) |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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