2019/01/31 by Oshri Borgman, Thomas Darwent, E. Segrè +3 · 32 citations
Engineering · Environmental Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Capillary action #Capillary pressure #Composite material #Displacement (psychology) #Enhanced Oil Recovery Techniques #Environmental science #Fluid dynamics #Geology #Geotechnical engineering #Groundwater flow and contamination studies #Lattice Boltzmann Simulation Studies #Materials science #Mechanics #Particle (ecology) #Physics #Porosity #Porous medium #Soil science #Wetting #cond-mat.soft #physics.flu-dyn
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.advwatres.2019.04.015
published in Advances in Water Resources 128, 158-167 (Elsevier BV)
arxiv created 2019/02/15 · openalex publication_date 2019/04/26 · arxiv updated 2019/05/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Immiscible fluid displacement in porous media is fundamental for many environmental processes, including infiltration of water in soils, groundwater remediation, enhanced recovery of hydrocarbons and carbon geosequestration. Microstructural heterogeneity, in particular of particle sizes, can significantly impact immiscible displacement. For instance, it may lead to unstable flow and preferential displacement patterns. We present a systematic, quantitative pore-scale study of the impact of spatial correlations in particle sizes on the drainage of a partially-wetting fluid. We perform pore-network simulations with varying flow rates and different degrees of spatial correlation, complemented with microfluidic experiments. Simulated and experimental displacement patterns show that spatial correlation leads to more preferential invasion, with reduced trapping of the defending fluid, especially at low flow rates. Numerically, we find that increasing the correlation length reduces the fluid-fluid interfacial area and the trapping of the defending fluid, and increases the invasion pattern asymmetry and selectivity. Our experiments, conducted for low capillary numbers, support these findings. Our results delineate the significant effect of spatial correlations on fluid displacement in porous media, of relevance to a wide range of natural and engineered processes.