Dissolution mass transfer of trapped phases in porous media is an important phenomenon in various fields, such as groundwater contamination [1–3], groundwater remediation [4], geological carbon sequestration [5], and energy storage in geological formation [6]. In the process of dissolution mass transfer, a fluid, which could be a liquid, gas, or supercritical fluid, is trapped in porous media...
Gas bubbles can form and grow in otherwise liquid-saturated granular media due to various physical processes, such as corrosion or the microbial decomposition of organic matter. These gas bubbles are typically non-wetting to the solid grains; as such, it is energetically costly for the gas to invade the narrow pore throats between grains. If the solid skeleton is sufficiently soft and/or the...
Bubbles in subsurface porous media spontaneously coarsen to reduce free energy. Bubble coarsening dramatically changes surface area and pore occupancy, which affect the hydraulic conductivity, mass and heat transfer coefficients, and chemical reactions. Coarsening kinetics in porous media is thus critical in modeling geologic CO2sequestration, hydrogen subsurface storage, hydrate reservoir...
Geologic carbon storage is the most readily available technique that can store the carbon in a relatively larger volume. The higher injectivity and the larger storage capacity are required for the efficient and economical geological carbon storage. The storage capacity of reservoirs highly depends on the multiphase flow properties of the reservoirs, especially the residual saturation of CO2 ....
For a wide range of engineering applications such as transpiration cooling, filtration processes, heat exchangers and geothermal engineering, understanding how porous media with different topologies interact with turbulent free flows is crucial. For this purpose, the focus is on the efficient design, operation and optimisation of such engineering applications and relies on comprehensive...
We consider the Hele-Shaw model of porous media flows involving two immiscible upper convected Maxwell fluids [1, 2]. Linear stability analysis shows that singularities up to three types can occur including resonance and fracture, the latter one consistent with the experimental results of Mora and Manna [3]. The resonance occurs when one of these two fluids is air and is removed when air is...
Foam-assisted water alternate gas injection (FAWAG injection) could be a promising technology to assist gas mobility control, consequently gas management in surface facilities of ultra-deepwater fields in the Brazilian offshore (Vieira et al., 2020). In these fields carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration in the gas stream varies, which can negatively impact foam stability, accelerating its...
The injection of foams into porous media has gained importance as a method of controlling gas mobility. The multilayer structure of the porous medium raises a question about its efficiency in dealing with layers of different permeabilities. The present work shows the existence of a single traveling wavefront in a two-layer porous medium for a simplified model derived from a realistic...
We study the synergistic impact of wettability and viscosity on immiscible fluid displacements in heterogeneous porous media. Direct Numerical Simulations are performed for viscosity ratio M (of invading vs defending fluid) ranging several orders of magnitude and contact angles ranging from very small to very large i.e. from completely wetting to completely non-wetting. The capillary number is...
It has become increasingly common to examine multi-phase flow systems in the context of thermodynamics, with the aim of expanding the traditional capillary pressure-saturation (Pc-Sw) relationship to remove its dependence on the history of the system. A commonly used multiphase flow theory based on rational thermodynamics introduces specific interfacial area of fluid-fluid interfaces, anw...
Wettability plays an important role in many natural and industrial processes, like mineral processing, hydrocarbon production and ground water remediation. For multiphase fluid flow in porous media, extensive research has been performed on the influence of the wettability on the phase distribution and morphology in both, static and dynamic conditions (1,2,3,4,5). Wettability is also crucial...
We present experimental results of the development of a hydrodynamic instability in a 3D flow setup in which one fluid phase invades a porous network saturated with another fluid phase. The invading phase is both more viscous and more dense than the defending phase and the developing invasion pattern is governed by the balance between viscous and gravitational forces. The full invading front...
Sub-micron size plastic particles represent a threat to aquatic environments. These colloidal particles are generally hydrophobic and therefore have the potential to attach and accumulate at air-water interfaces. The role of fluid-fluid interfaces as particle collectors has been recognized, but predictive models of nano-colloid transport in partially saturated porous media are still lacking....
Immiscible two-phase flow through porous media is composed of a series of pore invasions; however, the consequences of pore-scale processes on macroscopic fluid front behavior remain to be clarified. In this work, we perform an analytical and experimental investigation of front behavior and pore invasions dynamics during drainage for various viscosity ratios and capillary numbers. We use a...
Due to the intermittent nature of renewable energy resources like wind and solar, development of large-scale (TWh) energy storage systems is essential. A feasible solution for this can be offered by Underground Hydrogen Storage (UHS) in porous media. To ensure the safety of UHS, as well as to optimize injection and withdrawal cycles, a good understanding of hydrogen (H2)/brine interfacial,...
The interaction of gases and liquids in the subsurface has become highly relevant as subsurface carbon dioxide sequestration and hydrogen storage have been identified as key technologies to abate climate change. Gas mobility is affected by capillary trapping[1], dissolution[2] and Ostwald ripening[3], as well as the capillary relaxation of the fluid/gas system, with important consequences for...
In the limit of the so-called fast diffusion regime, the solid-fluid interaction plays the major role in the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) transverse relaxation phenomenon, and the saturating fluid characteristic transverse relaxation time (T2) is inversely proportional to the surface-to-volume ratio (S/V) of the pore where it resides [1]. The surface relaxivity (ρ), a parameter that...
Today experimental and computational resources allow visualizing transport phenomena in idealized or more realistic pore geometries and modeling these processes starting from the first principles of continuum mechanics (i.e., solving momentum- and mass-conservation equations by means of tools borrowed from classic Computational Fluid Dynamics).
We briefly introduce these computational...
Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance (PFAS)-containing Aqueous Film Forming Foams (AFFFs), employed in firefighting, have been recognized as a major source of PFAS contamination across the globe. In addition to the release of PFAS-containing solutions, firefighting training and emergency response activities have also typically involved the intentional or accidental co-release of hydrocarbon...
Biogeochemical reactions taking place at the fluid-solid interface in porous media are central to a broad range of natural and engineered processes. As dissolved reactants are depleted at the interface, transport limitations can limit reactant availability and reduce effective reaction rates across the plume. Reaction efficiency is thus conditioned by the mixing action of advection and...
Micro-continuum modeling enables the simulation of coupled multi-physics processes including multiphase flow and reactive transport at the pore scale. One key feature is the ability to move fluid-solid (e.g. mineral dissolution or precipitation) and fluid-fluid interfaces (e.g. dissolution of gaseous species in aqueous phase) using fixed-grids only, i.e without the need to remesh the grid when...
We illustrate experimental protocols designed to acquire Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) images for the nanoscale investigation of key patterns of mineral dissolution reactions at solid-fluid interfaces. These reactive processes are critical in numerous scenarios of application in natural porous systems as they drive alterations of fundamental properties of the host solid matrix (e.g.,...
The adsorption of ionic species at the interfaces between rock and brine, and between brine and non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPL) such as crude oil, can significantly impact the mobility of these substances in porous media. In this work, we present a set of simple benchmarks to evaluate the accuracy and consistency of existing mathematical models and thermodynamic software in predicting the...
Porous media are characterized by their physical and chemical heterogeneity at a range of length scales. As a result, the interfaces between the different phases or materials present in the media are complex. Processes near or at these interfaces often exert a controlling effect on the outcome of applications in which these porous media are used. Process-based modeling is a powerful tool to...
