Interface instability of two-phase flow in a three-dimensional porous medium

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Brodin, Joachim Falck, Pierce, Kevin, Reis, Paula, Rikvold, Per Arne, Moura, Marcel, Jankov, Mihailo, Måløy, Knut Jørgen
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Brodin, Joachim Falck
Pierce, Kevin
Reis, Paula
Rikvold, Per Arne
Moura, Marcel
Jankov, Mihailo
Måløy, Knut Jørgen
author_facet Brodin, Joachim Falck
Pierce, Kevin
Reis, Paula
Rikvold, Per Arne
Moura, Marcel
Jankov, Mihailo
Måløy, Knut Jørgen
contents We present an experimental study of immiscible, two-phase fluid flow through a three-dimensional porous medium consisting of randomly-packed, monodisperse glass spheres. Our experiments combine refractive-index matching and laser-induced fluorescence imaging to resolve the morphology and stability of the moving interface resulting from the injection of one fluid into another. The imposed injection rate sets a balance between gravitational and viscous forces, producing interface morphologies which range from unstable collections of tangled fingers at low rates to stable sheets at high rates. The image data are complemented by time-resolved pressure measurements. We develop a stability criterion for the fluid interface based on the analysis of the 3D images and the pressure data. This criterion involves the Darcy permeability in each of the two phases and the time derivative of the pressure drop across the medium. We observe that the relative permeability encountered by the invading fluid is modified by the imposed flow rate in our experiment, which impacts the two-phase flow dynamics. We show that, in addition to the balance between the relevant forces driving the dynamics, local regions of crystalline order in the beadpack (crystallites) affect the stability of the invading front. This work provides insights into how disorder on multiple length scales in porous media can interact with viscous, capillary, and gravitational forces to determine the stability and dynamics of immiscible fluid interfaces.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_10127
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Interface instability of two-phase flow in a three-dimensional porous medium
Brodin, Joachim Falck
Pierce, Kevin
Reis, Paula
Rikvold, Per Arne
Moura, Marcel
Jankov, Mihailo
Måløy, Knut Jørgen
Fluid Dynamics
We present an experimental study of immiscible, two-phase fluid flow through a three-dimensional porous medium consisting of randomly-packed, monodisperse glass spheres. Our experiments combine refractive-index matching and laser-induced fluorescence imaging to resolve the morphology and stability of the moving interface resulting from the injection of one fluid into another. The imposed injection rate sets a balance between gravitational and viscous forces, producing interface morphologies which range from unstable collections of tangled fingers at low rates to stable sheets at high rates. The image data are complemented by time-resolved pressure measurements. We develop a stability criterion for the fluid interface based on the analysis of the 3D images and the pressure data. This criterion involves the Darcy permeability in each of the two phases and the time derivative of the pressure drop across the medium. We observe that the relative permeability encountered by the invading fluid is modified by the imposed flow rate in our experiment, which impacts the two-phase flow dynamics. We show that, in addition to the balance between the relevant forces driving the dynamics, local regions of crystalline order in the beadpack (crystallites) affect the stability of the invading front. This work provides insights into how disorder on multiple length scales in porous media can interact with viscous, capillary, and gravitational forces to determine the stability and dynamics of immiscible fluid interfaces.
title Interface instability of two-phase flow in a three-dimensional porous medium
topic Fluid Dynamics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.10127