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(MS01) Porous Media for a Green World: Energy & Climate
Lead Organizer: Maartje Boon - University of Stuttgart, Germany
- Adedapo Awolayo - McMaster University, Canada
- Lauren Beckingham - Auburn University, USA
- Rainer Helmig - University of Stuttgart, Germany
- Anna Herring - University of Tennessee, USA
- Kai Li - TU Delft, Netherlands
- Kamaljit Singh - Herriot Watt, UK
- Yuhang Wang - China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), China
Porous media science and engineering has played an important historical role in the development of the current global energy system through the production of oil, natural gas, and coal. Unfortunately, combustion of the produced fuels has led to the current climate and carbon problem, prompting the urgent need to transition to a low carbon future. While renewables such as wind and solar will play a major role in the energy transition, creative uses of natural and engineered porous media will also be a critical part of any viable low carbon energy system. Because fossil fuels will form a significant part of the foreseeable future energy mix, CO2 capture and subsequent subsurface storage must play a major role in both direct carbon-capture-and-storage (CCS) projects and in negative emissions scenarios like Bio-Energy with CCS, or BECCS. In addition to large-scale carbon storage, more creative uses of porous media also need to be developed, including creative subsurface energy storage schemes to deal with intermittency of renewables, and novel capture technologies in engineered systems as well as naturally reactive rocks. These capturing technologies also include reactive transport mechanisms for energy storage. In addition, geothermal energy production is expected to increase its contribution in the future energy mix. In all of these activities, safety and risk assessments are very important, so that societal concerns such as induced-seismicity and surface subsidence (and uplift) are managed properly. In this session, we invite contributions on all aspects of utilization of porous media for energy and climate-driven activities. This can include improved methods for oil and gas production, all aspects of CCS systems including storage in reactive rock systems as well as negative emissions involving BECCS, and new methods for subsurface energy storage including those that complement traditional wind and solar. We especially invite collaborative efforts involving scientists, engineers and technology developers to contribute to our mini-symposium.
(MS02) Porous Media for a Green World: Water & Agriculture
Lead Organizer: Milad Aminzadeh - Institute of Geo-Hydroinformatics, Hamburg University of Technology, Germany
- Minsu Kim - University of Graz, Austria
- Gang Wang - China Agricultural University, China
- Nima Shokri - Hamburg University of Technology, Germany
Sustainable use of soil and water resources is crucial to preserve healthy terrestrial ecosystems and maintaining food security. Many of the scientific and technical challenges related to these issues hinge on understanding, controlling and optimizing processes that involve the multiscale (in both space and time) dynamics of water and nutrients in the soil-plant system, arguably the porous medium ‘par excellence’. With this theme in mind, this mini-symposium aims to bring together contributions on the physics, chemistry and biology of porous media with emphasis on applications to the ecohydrology and biogeochemistry of ecosystems. Fundamental research on these interdisciplinary topics will provide guidance and novel solutions to improve human actions on sustainable natural resource management, and reduce their potential negative impacts. Of particular interest are long-lasting environmental repercussions of water and soil management and the elements of irreversibility on the microscale structure of soils in relation to soil degradation and salinization, groundwater dynamics, carbon and nutrient retention, which in turn affect plant productivity and ultimately ecosystem resilience and human welfare. We welcome contributions toward optimal land-use management for sustainable use of terrestrial environments and quantitative analysis of the effectiveness of applied human strategies on ecosystem management for food and water supply security.
(MS03) Flow, transport and mechanics in fractured porous media
Lead Organizer: Hamid Nick - Technical University of Denmark, Denmark
- Hang Deng - Peking University, China
- Tianran Ma - China University of Mining and Technology, China
- Catherine Peters - Princeton University, USA
In modeling of flow, (multiphase) transport and mechanics in fractured porous media, challenges are related to the fractured structure’s impact on the processes and/or the processes’ impact on the fractured structure. Fractures may, for example, totally dominate flow-processes, and, vice versa, flow processes may alter the fractured structure of the medium, causing fractures to deform, slip and/or propagate. This mini-symposia invites presentations on advances within mathematical and numerical modeling and experimental work related to flow, transport, chemical and mechanical processes in fractured porous media.
(MS04) Swelling and shrinking porous media
Lead Organizer: Yihuai Zhang - University of Glasgow, UK
- Muhammad Arif - Khalifa University, UAE
- Jean-François Louf - Auburn University, USA
- Yang Yang - Chongqing University, China
- Yida Zhang - University of Colorado, Boulder, USA
Many porous media, from soils and clays to gels and tissues, will swell or shrink in response to thermal, mechanical, or chemical stimuli. The coupling between flow and deformation during swelling/shrinking can give rise to a variety of complex phenomena, including changes in mechanical or transport properties, changes in size or shape, and the formation of fracture or wrinkle patterns. The goal of this mini-symposium will be to highlight new experiments that provide direct visualization and characterization of these phenomena, as well as new theories that harness the output of these tools to better model flow and transport during swelling/shrinking. Particular emphasis will be given to studies that provide a direct comparison between theoretical predictions and experimental results.
(MS05) Microbial Processes in Porous Media: Risks and Advances
Lead Organizer: Na Liu - University of Bergen, Norway
- Chaojie Cheng - Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany
- Jacquelin Elizabeth Cobos Mora - University of Bergen, Norway
- Seetha N. - Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, India
- Yibin Qi - SINOPEC, China
- Eike Thaysen - Spanish National Research Council, Spain
- Yuze Wang - Southern University of Science and Technology, China
Microorganisms within porous media, including soils, sediments, and subsurface energy systems, play an important role in biogeochemical cycling, contaminant remediation, and subsurface energy operations. Their presence can be both advantageous and detrimental: on one hand, microbially driven processes like wettability alteration, biofilm formation, and mineral precipitation offer promise for applications such as in situ bioremediation, soil improvement, waste treatment, ground water recharge and Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery (MEOR). Conversely, microorganisms can metabolize sulfur compounds, leading to the production of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas. During underground hydrogen (H2) storage in aquifers or gas reservoirs, microbial activities can result in substantial gas loss and contamination. Stored H2 gas may undergo microbial conversions to CH4, H2S, or CH3COOH through metabolic processes, including methanogenesis, sulfate reduction, and acetogenesis. The potential biogeochemical activity followed by H2 injection calls for caution and revision of conventional storage practices.
We invite contributions presenting cutting-edge experimental techniques, image processing methods, and advanced modeling approaches that illuminate microbial processes in porous media across various scales. Topics include microbial activities during underground H2 storage, microbially driven mineral precipitation, reservoir souring, biofilm accumulation, and associated impacts on porous materials. Encouraging case studies and interdisciplinary approaches, we aim to deepen our understanding of microbial dynamics in porous media and guide future research and applications in this critical field.
(MS06-A) Physics of multiphase flow in diverse porous media
Lead Organizer: Chao-Zhong Qin - Chongqing University, China
- Saman Aryana - University of Wyoming, USA
- Li Chen - Xi’an Jiaotong University, China
- Ying Gao - Shell, The Netherlands
- Yu Jing - University of New South Wales, Australia
- Hassan Mahani - Sharif University of Technology, Iran
- Maša Prodanović - The University of Texas at Austin, USA
- Rui Wu - Shanghai Jiaotong University, China
Multiphase flow in porous media is significant to many applications ranging from: subsurface and near-surface flow processes, that are operative in petroleum engineering, carbon storage and utilization, remediation of soil contamination, soil physics and hydrogeology. To applications in material science, such as membranes and fuel cells. In all these applications, it is often desirable to establish relationships between microstructural and surface properties of the media, fluid properties, and Darcy scale effective properties. Much of the past research has focused on description of multiphase flow behavior at the Darcy scale, with purely phenomenological links to microscopic system properties. Translating the various physics that dominate transport at each scale across the range of scales remains a significant challenge.
Thanks to progress in imaging and numerical modelling in the past decade, our understanding of the physics of transport at the pore and meso-scale has improved tremendously. The purpose of this minisymposium is to provide forum to share and explore recent insights into multiphase displacement physics through experiments, modelling and theory development. Examples of potential topics of interest include the following.
• Characterization of transport across length and time scales, ranging from pore to Darcy scale. Applications include, remediation of contaminated soils and aquifers or geological storage of CO2 as part of carbon capture utilization and storage operations.
• Exploration of the basis set of REV variables needed for thermodynamic integration across scales.
• Development of frameworks for upscaling (nano-scale to pore-scale, pore-scale to Darcy-scale). Frameworks may include reactive transport, geomechanics and/or multiphase multicomponent flows.
• Descriptions and applications of flexible materials, complex / non-Newtonian fluids, and spatially heterogeneous wettability conditions.
• Applications to model and investigate spatially heterogeneous wettability conditions.
• Applications involving complex / non-Newtonian fluids.
• Investigation of pore-scale physics and upscaling of dynamic capillary effects.
• Studying the effects of sub-pore and pore-scale scale spatial heterogeneity and complex micro-structure that influence macro-scale, multiphase flows.
(MS06-B) Interfacial phenomena across scales
Lead Organizer: Ran Holtzman - Coventry University, UK
- Oshri Borgman - Migal Galilee Institute, Israel
- Sidian Chen - University of Arizona, USA
- Zuhao Kou - Columbia University, USA
- Hannah Menke - Heriot-Watt University, UK
- Ziqing Pan - Peking University, China
- Subhadeep Roy - Birla Institute of Technology & Science, India
- Rui Wu - Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
- Zhibing Yang - Wuhan University, China
The existence of fluid-fluid and fluid-solid interfaces introduces a plethora of coupled physical, chemical, and biological phenomena which are key to multiphase flow in heterogeneous porous materials. While the interfaces are microscopic, they can control flows at the kilometer scale. The challenge of understanding the underlying rich physics is essential in many applications in geosciences and engineering. Examples range from small-scale industrial processes such as filtering, separation, coating or curing to large-scale transport of water, nutrients and contaminants in soils, extraction of hydrocarbons from and storage of carbon or energy in sediments, among others. We aim to bring together scientists across disciplines and with various expertise (numerical, experimental, and theoretical modeling) to share their state-of-the-art findings and challenges in this mini-symposium.
(MS07) Mathematical and numerical methods for multi-scale multi-physics, nonlinear coupled processes
Lead Organizer: Jakub Both - University of Bergen, Norway
- Eric Chung - The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
- Ben Mansour Dia - King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia
- Cunqi Jia - The University of Texas at Austin, USA
- Nadja Ray - University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany
- Peng Xu - China Jiliang University, China
Various applications of societal and technological relevance involve flow, (multi-phase) transport, deformation or reaction in natural (e.g. geological) or synthetic porous media. These applications are broad: from energy and environment to biosystems and high-tech materials. In many of these situations, experiments (or field observations) are either extremely costly (or even impossible) or they are required to be complemented with models and simulations. In this context, mathematical and numerical simulation methods are key tools for understanding processes as named above. When designing efficient simulation methods, at least two major challenges appear. The first is related to the fact that the mathematical models are coupled systems of highly nonlinear equations, and the second is due to the high complexity associated with porous media, e.g., highly heterogeneous properties with scale separation (often for fabricated porous materials) and without scale separation (often with natural real-world porous media). The dynamic coupling of processes taking place at different scales (from micro to macro) also motivates the needs to account for all such multiscale aspects in the development of accurate mathematical and numerical methods. In this mini-symposium, we invite contributions related to the development of “advanced mathematical models and related analyses” and “advanced numerical methods” including “advanced discretization methods” and “multiscale multilevel model order reduction techniques (multiscale methods, homogenization and upscaling, etc.) ”, “topological model reduction for embedded inclusions” (applied e.g. to fractures and wells), and “advanced nonlinear and linear solution strategies” for multi-scale, multi-component and multi-physics processes in porous media.
(MS08) Mixing, dispersion and reaction processes across scales in heterogeneous and fractured media
Lead Organizer: Marco Dentz - Spanish National Research Council, Spain
- Branko Bijeljic - Imperial College London, UK
- Mohammad Nooraiepour - University of Oslo, Norway
- Amir Raoof - Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Mozhdeh Sajjadi - University of Tehran, Iran
- Qingwang Yuan - Texas Tech University, USA
- Weiwei Zhu - Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
An in-depth understanding of solute mixing and reactive transport is key in engineered and natural porous media with applications ranging from the design of porous reactors to diffusion in human tissue to geothermal heat production and groundwater management. Spatial heterogeneity in pore and Darcy scale medium and flow properties leads to scale effects in system parameters (e.g., hydraulic conductivity, dispersion coefficients, chemical rate constants) and emerging large scale processes (e.g., anomalous diffusion, memory reactions, mechanical mixing) due to the interaction of small scale processes, segregation and mass transfer across heterogeneity-induced interfaces. Recent advances in experimental and theoretical approaches have shed new light into the pore and Darcy-scale mechanisms that govern these processes and their large scale quantification. This session addresses a diverse group of researchers investigating Eulerian and Lagrangian flow properties, solute and particle transport, and mixing and reaction phenomena under spatial heterogeneity in fluids at rest and under single, multiphase and variable density flows on the pore and Darcy scales. It aims to bring together experimental observations from the lab to the field scale with theory and numerical simulations to advance our understanding of heterogeneity-induced mixing, transport and chemical reaction dynamics over a large range of spatial and temporal scales.
(MS09) Pore-scale modelling
Lead Organizer: Ke Xu - Peking University, China
- Bo Guo - University of Arizona, USA
- Shaina Kelly - Columbia University, USA
- Yashar Mehmani - The Pennsylvania State University, USA
- Saeid Sadeghnejad - Tarbiat Modares University, Iran
- Moran Wang - Tsinghua University, China
- Chiyu Xie - University of Science and Technology Beijing, China
- Yongfei Yang - China University of Petroleum, China
- Stephane Zaleski - Sorbonne Université, France
Modeling the physics of fluid flow and mechanical deformation is necessary to untangle the sequence of events that occurs within porous materials. Recent decades have shown a dramatic increase in interest to study and apply porous media science in various aspects of energy and environmental engineering. Groundwater remediation, geothermal energy, CO2 storage, natural gas recovery, and fuel cells are a few examples. Sustainable engineering of each one of these systems requires a microscale understanding with which one can make predictions. Pore-scale modeling is the tool to do just that. Here we solicit contributions on all aspects of pore-scale modeling with a particular emphasis on:
• novel algorithms and computational methods
• validation of models against experiments
• new physical insights and theoretical analyses
• upscaling pore-scale results into continuum-scale descriptions
Examples of specific areas include – but are not limited to – numerical methods (pore networks, lattice Boltzmann, direct numerical simulation, phase field, level set), discretization (finite volume, finite element, finite difference, particle-based), flow physics (Newtonian, non-Newtonian, single/multi-phase), passive/reactive transport (dissolution, precipitation, dispersion, mixing), mechanics (discrete element, failure, granular flow, plasticity), solvers and approximators (multiscale methods), hybrid computing (pore-to-Darcy coupling, addressing scale separation).
(MS10) Advances in imaging porous media: techniques, software and case studies
Lead Organizer: Lin Ma - University of Manchester, UK
- Martin Blunt - Imperial College London, UK
- Sidian Chen - University of Arizona, USA
- Qinhong Hu - China University of Petroleum (East China), China
- Maja Rucker - Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands
- Liwei Zhang - Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
In the last decades, multi-scale 2D/3D/4D imaging techniques have developed rapidly and become increasingly appliable in porous material characterization. Many advanced imaging techniques, such as X-ray Computed Tomography (XCT), Electron Microscope Tomography (EMT), Laser Scanning Microscopy (LSM), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Scanning Transmission X-ray Microscopy (STXM), have been developing at a high speed both on the hardware and the software side. Furthermore, the increasing utilisation and development of synchrotron, neutron and muon sources have provided excellent opportunities to advance the imaging techniques. Because of the development and their added value, they are intensively used to study porous media for their characterisation and quantification as well as to study the various dynamic processes occurring inside porous media, providing unique perspectives in porous materials studies. For this mini-symposium we invite contributions that focus on advancements in 2D, 3D and 4D imaging techniques or imaging analysis software to study porous media as well as contributions that integrate these new developments in experiments and real case-studies.
(MS11) Microfluidics and nanofluidics in porous systems
Lead Organizer: Yaniv Edery - Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Israel
- Shima Parsa - Rochester Institute of Technology, USA
- Nicolas Waisbord - Université Aix Marseille, France
- Jiahui You - University of Houston, USA
- Junjie Zhong - China University of Petroleum (East China), China
Microfluidic systems have revolutionized our understanding of pore-scale processes, offering high-precision investigations within picoliter to nanoliter fluid volumes. These systems operate within controlled geometries and properties, such as size and wettability, providing an ideal platform for studying complex media, including those that mimic porous materials. This area of research has significant implications for improving large-scale, continuum-based models like Darcy's law, whose limitations have been increasingly challenged by microscale studies. The symposium aims to convene experts focused on leveraging microfluidics to delve into processes at the individual pore level. The objective is to enhance our grasp of their broader impacts on phenomena such as solute mixing, reactive transport, multiphase flow, electrokinetic effects in charged systems, colloid transport and filtration, as well as the growth of microorganisms and formation of mineral aggregates.
(MS12) Advances in Computational and Experimental Poromechanics
Lead Organizer: Jianchao Cai - China University of Petroleum, China
- Sebastian Geiger - TU Delft, The Netherlands
- Amir H. Haghi - CGG, Canada
In the past decade, numerical simulation and experimental characterization of physical interactions between mechanical deformation and fluid flow in porous media (i.e., poromechanical interaction) have become increasingly crucial in several branches of technology and natural sciences. Poromechanical interaction is a ubiquitous phenomenon in nature, and it has a prominent influence on fluid transport via living cells and tissues, plant movements, and magma propagation. Among typical societal relevant applications of poromechanics, we mention geothermal energy extraction, CO2 sequestration, energy subsurface storage, hydraulic fracturing, and cancer research. In this mini-symposium, we will address recent developments in numerical solvers for poromechanics, e.g. iterative and monolithic schemes, multigrid, efficient preconditioners and (stable/multiscale/mass conservative) discretization methods. At the same time, new trends in the mathematical modelling of poromechanics will be discussed. Especially, non-linear or non-stationary extensions of Biot equations, multiphase and reactive flow in deformable porous media, thermo-poroelasticity and the inclusion of fractures will be of interest. In addition, this mini-symposium will highlight experimental advances in poromechanics using creative laboratory designs and advanced visualization approaches (e.g., integrated scanning, in-situ heating, and triaxial loading tests) under complex thermo-hydro-mechanical conditions. These experimental observations aim to improve our understanding of the poromechanical controls on single-phase and multiphase fluid flow in natural and artificial (3D printed, microfluidics) porous materials and fractures.
(MS13) Fluids in Nanoporous Media
Lead Organizer: Bin Pan - University of Science and Technology Beijing, China
- Elizabeth Barsotti - Cambridge University, UK
- Qinhong Hu - China University of Petroleum (East China), China
- Shaina A. Kelly - Columbia University, USA
- Jianchun Xu - China University of Petroleum (East China), China
- Yun Yang - Los Alamos National Lab, USA
Many porous media have characteristic pore sizes in the nanometer range. These media include natural materials (clays, coal, and shale), concrete, as well as synthetic materials used for separation, purification, and energy storage. In most natural or technological processes the pores in these materials contain fluids: water in clays and concrete, hydrocarbons in coal and shale, etc. In nanopore-confined fluid, tight spatial confinement and solid-fluid interactions may significantly alter the fluid's physical properties, causing, for example, the molecular structuring of the fluid, shifts of the freezing or evaporation points and the appearance of the disjoining pressure. These pore-scale effects necessarily lead to a change in the parameters of continuum models for fluid transport in nanoporous media and poromechanics; moreover, they often require introducing new physics in the governing equations. The objective of this minisymposium is to provide a forum for the discussion of all possible aspects of fluid phases confined in nanoporous materials: fundamental and applied, theoretical and experimental.
(MS14) Uncertainty Quantification in Porous Media
Lead Organizer: Ben Mansour Dia - King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia
- Valentina Ciriello - University of Bologna, Italy
- Mina Karimi - California Institute of Technology, USA
- Rodrigo W. dos Santos - Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Brazil
- Huining Xu - Harbin Institute of Technology, China
The goal of this mini-symposium is to provide a forum for discussion of common themes that arise in the application of stochastic (e.g., Markov chain Monte Carlo (McMC)) and deterministic (e.g. Adjoint formulation) uncertainty quantification (UQ) methods for porous media. We welcome UQ methods for all porous media applications, including flow in porous media and geophysics. We aim for a multi-disciplinary mini-symposium that forms a basis for cross-discipline discussions of new findings, challenges, and methods forward. We welcome contributions on HPC, machine learning, and multiscale methods that aim at speeding up computations related to UQ.
(MS15) Machine Learning and Big Data in Porous Media
Lead Organizer: Shuyu Sun - King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia
- Bailian Chen - Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA
- Yalchin Efendiev - Texas A&M, USA
- He Liu - China National Petroleum Corporation, China
- Pania Newell - University of Utah, USA
- Hongkyu Yoon - Sandia National Laboratories, USA
- Chensong Zhang - Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
- Kai Zhang - Qingdao University of Technology, China
- Tao Zhang - King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia
Recent advances in computer and data sciences have made machine learning (ML) techniques a frontier in porous media-related research. As a result, classical challenges in porous media are being addressed with new techniques based on ML. The aim of this mini-symposium is to present the recent results of new ML methods and introduce new directions in porous media-related research to researchers in our community. This session seeks abstracts in the following topics: 1) recent advances in ML algorithms (including deep learning architectures, physics-informed ML, self-supervised/un-supervised ML, transferability, interpretability) with applications to porous media; 2) development of computationally fast proxy models, reduced order models or predictive empirical models using ML to address issues of interest in porous media; 3) other ML-/big data-related applications or developments (e.g., upscaling, multiscale analysis, porous media generation, imaging analysis, coupled processes) in porous media.
(MS16) Fluid Interactions with Thin Porous Media
Lead Organizer: Richmond Cohen - Kimberly-Clark Corporation, USA
- Dwayne Jackson - Kimberly-Clark Corporation, USA
- Satoru Katoh - Toyota Central R&D Labs, Japan
- Nicolae Tomozeiu - Canon Production Printing B.V., The Netherlands
- Chaozhong Qin - Chongqing University, China
Thin porous media are extensively used in the paper industry, fuel-cell development, printing technologies, packaging, etc. Their diversity, considering structure, composition, physico-chemical properties, as well as their interactions with fluids are of current interest for both fundamental understanding and industrial applications. Processes such as liquid imbibition, drying, nanoparticle transport into thin porous media structures and clogging, plus water purification, are examples of where greater fundamental understanding is needed. In this mini-symposium, we call for papers that focus on fluid transport through thin porous media considering evaporation, spreading, absorption, diffusion, capillary suction, and clogging processes, while the media may deform due to swelling processes. The topics of this mini-symposium include different aspects of Thin Porous Media including thin fibrous and granular porous media, liquid spreading, absorption/diffusion, mechanisms of liquid imbibition/drying, surface modification of fibers and their implications on liquid transport, hydro-expansion and dimensional stability in the presence of moisture, and process modeling to the real industrial applications.
High Porosity sub-session
High-porosity porous media, with porosity of more than 70-80%, have a wide range of existing and promising uses in consumer goods, aerospace, and industrial applications (as filter media, heat exchangers, and catalysts). These porous media are typically metal or polymer foams or fibrous nonwoven materials. In such porous media, the flow behavior and thermodynamics are frequently quite different than those in low-porosity porous media. Further, assumptions and experimental systems used for low-porosity porous media may not be suitable. This session invites both modeling and experimental studies aimed at advancing our understanding of such high-porosity porous media and highlighting its novel applications.
(MS17) Complex fluid and Fluid-Solid-Thermal coupled process in porous media: Modeling and Experiment
Lead Organizer: Yingfang Zhou - University of Aberdeen, UK
- Praveen Linga - National University of Singapore, Singapore
- Shimin Liu - Pennsylvania State University, USA
- Moran Wang - Tsinghua University, China
- Ruina Xu - Tsinghua University, China
Fluid-solid-thermal coupled process in porous media play an important role in numerous applications, including unconventional energy resources extraction, energy storage, environments, industrial materials such as isolators, aerospace, and medical engineering. The scope of this mini-symposia covers all studies which deal primarily on complex fluids and fluid-solid-thermal aspects of porous media, fluid-solid interaction, thermal coupling, and property measurements in a multidisciplinary nature of analyses, modeling, experiment and field studies. We also include challenging fields such as geo-energy and geo-environment systems as well as insulation materials under extreme conditions.
(MS18) Innovative Methods for Characterization, Monitoring, and In-Situ Remediation of Contaminated Soils and Aquifers
Lead Organizer: Christos Tsakiroglou - Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas, Greece
- Xiaopu Wang – China University of Petroleum, China
- Tianyuan Zheng – Ocean University of China, China
The efficacy of methods used for the characterization, monitoring, and remediation of contaminated soils and aquifers is unavoidably associated with the multi-scale properties of unsaturated and saturated zones. The development of innovative, and cost-effective methods for (i) mapping and monitoring polluted soils and surface emissions from spread pollutants, and (ii) soil and aquifer ex situ or in situ remediation rely on information resulting from lab-, pilot-, and field-scale tests along with process modeling and simulation in porous media. Toward this direction, earlier and new knowledge concerning the multiphase and multi-component transport and reactive processes in multi-scale porous media must be handled in the light of interdisciplinary approaches (e.g. geology, chemistry, chemical engineering, physics, etc.) for understanding, analyzing, and modeling the complex processes involved. For this mini-symposium, we invite lab- and pilot-scale experimental approaches, field-scale case studies, and numerical simulations that focus on the development, application, and interpretation of innovative techniques for the characterization / monitoring / remediation (e.g. biological treatment, thermal treatment, advanced oxidation, electro-remediation, nanoremediation, hybrid technologies, etc.) of soils and aquifers at a broad hierarchy of scales ranging from the pore- to the field-scale.
(MS19) Elastic, electrical, and electrochemical processes and properties in porous media
Lead Organizer: Pablo Garcia Salaberri - Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain
- Yuqi Wu - China University of Petroleum (East China), China
- Cunqi Jia - University of Texas at Austin, USA
Wave propagation, electron transport and electrolyte flow through porous media are found in many fields of science and technology, ranging from petroleum, chemical and construction engineering, to cell, earth and materials science. Thus, it is of great significance to understand elastic, electrical and electrochemical processes and properties in porous media. In this mini-symposium, attention is devoted to new developments in characterization methods and modeling techniques addressing state-of-the-art challenges in elasticity, electrical engineering and electrochemistry in porous media. Research includes fundamental work of pore-scale transport processes at the microscopic scale as well as the study of effective properties at the macroscopic scale. Thus, this mini-symposium aims to provide a venue for scientists and engineers to discuss recent advances in wave propagation, electron transport, electrolyte flow, and electrochemical processes in porous media, elastic and electrical properties of porous materials, and their applications in diverse fields. The list of topics includes, but is not limited to, theoretical and computational modeling, and in-situ and ex-situ experiments.
(MS20) Biophysics of living porous media: theory, experiment, modeling and characterization
Lead Organizer: Dominik Obrist - University of Bern, Switzerland
- Timo Koch - University of Oslo, Norway
- Fred Vermolen - University of Hasselt, Belgium
- Moran Wang - Tsinghua University, China
The biophysics of living porous media relates to mass transport and flow in the microcirculation, in internal organs, tissues, cell agglomerates, and plants. It addresses questions of biology and medicine and has applications in engineering science. The structure, function, and evolution of living porous medium systems are studied on a broad spectrum of scales: from cells to tissues and from organs to the entire living system and the interaction of porous systems with the environment. Mechanistic modeling allows decrypting the coupling between physical phenomena and the role of biological and chemical factors in living systems. Theoretical, computational, and experimental approaches based on porous media mechanics play a pivotal role in understanding the biophysics of living porous media. Discussed topics include (but are not limited to) mass transport and multiphase flow in living systems, tissue and organ poromechanics, tissue remodeling, multiphase modeling of biological tissues, and drug delivery in the microcirculation.
(MS21) Non-linear effects in flow and transport through porous media
Lead Organizer: Mohaddeseh Mousavi Nezhad - University of Liverpool, UK
- Huaming Guo - China University of Geosciences (Beijing), China
- Yves Méheust - Université Rennes, France
Non-linear effects impacting fluid flow and chemical transport in porous media play a key role for processes occurring in several disciplines and in a variety of applications. On the one hand, examples of situations where the role of inertial terms in the Navier-Stokes equations is important include flows in highly permeable porous media such as river sediments, canopies, urban canyons or near well injections, catalytic beds, nuclear reactors. On the other hand, non-Newtonian rheologies involve non-linear or history-dependent relationships between stress and shear rate and are relevant for applications such as the use of polymer slugs for remediation of NAPL-polluted aquifers, enhanced oil recovery (EOR), or in the general context of subsurface characterization. Non-Newtonian fluid flows also occur in the context of the remediation of vadose zone environments; clay-based drilling muds (with direct implication on fracture characterization while drilling); and suspensions of solid particles for soil remediation or fracking. They are also important in many industrial applications such as polymer matrix composites.
The non-linear effects associated with such flow and transport conditions, combined with the complexity of the multi-scale heterogeneous structure for instance in the case of the subsurface, introduce remarkable challenges to modeling macro-scale system behavior. Otherwise, a detailed depiction of pore-scale flows and the investigation of the relationship between the theoretical descriptions at various scales of the problem can benefit from detailed microscale simulations (molecular or quasi-molecular, meso-scale approaches, effective boundary conditions such as slip conditions for polymer flows, continuum approaches) performed in realistic pore spaces. Advances in the field further require the development of experiments at the corresponding scales (pore, Darcy, field), along with novel visualization and imaging techniques (e.g. PIV, PTV, laser fluorescence imaging, photon microscopy, X-ray tomography). In terms of transport, it is documented that mixing processes in non-linear flows take place at the small scales, which makes the quantification of the related physical and chemical processes significantly challenging. In this context, the upscaling of pore/fracture scale results in terms of macro-scale models and effective properties challenges all upscaling techniques and homogenization paradigms, which must be adapted and improved.
In this mini-symposium we seek to address the way non-linear effects impact flow and transport patterns in porous media or fractured porous media, and the way current knowledge can be transferred onto applications. We welcome contributions addressing the impact of non-linearities in the flow equations on single- or multiphase flows and transport processes in porous media, based on theoretical/numerical studies, laboratory experiments, or macro-scale/field investigations, over a broad range of scales and applications. Discussions on modern modeling and investigation strategies are also encouraged.
(MS22) Manufactured Porous Materials for Industrial Applications
Lead Organizer: Senyou An - Imperial College London, UK
- Vahid Niasar - University of Manchester, UK
- Mohammadjavad Shokriafra - University of Manchester, UK
- Shuo Zhai - Shenzhen University, China
Porous materials are key components of many industrial applications such as fuel cells, electrolysers, electrodes in electrochemical batteries, membrane and separation technology, paper and filters. Depending on the application, the porous materials are designed, fabricated or modified to deliver specific objectives. Porous media science applicable to physical and chemical processes in geosystems can be shared with other engineering applications.
There have been progressive technologies to improve the design, characterisation and manufacturing the synthetic porous materials.
This minisymposium aims to provide the platform for researchers to exchange knowledge about their challenges, achievements and research questions related to design, characterisation and fabrication of porous materials for the above-mentioned disciplines.
Showcases of success or challenges are encouraged to be presented to demonstrate the capabilities or gaps in fundamental porous media knowledge.
(MS23) Interfaces, interfaces everywhere...a special session in honor of Dorthe Wildenschild
Lead Organizer: Masa Prodanovic - University of Texas at Austin, USA
- Ryan Armstrong - University of New South Wales, Australia
- Steffen Berg - Shell, The Netherlands
- Wenhui Song - China University of Petroleum (Beijing) - China
Three-dimensional imaging of porous material is now a standard tool that is used routinely to characterize complex porous material structure and can also be used to elucidate many processes such as fluid flow or response to mechanical stress. The technique is particularly powerful when used in conjunction with modeling, and when different imaging modalities are combined. We invite contributions on recent advances in image-based characterization and description of transport processes in porous media.
This mini-symposium celebrates Dr. Dorthe Wildenschild, a visionary researcher, educator and role model who received the InterPore Society Honorary Lifetime Membership Award in 2023. Prof. Wildenschild has introduced the use of pore-scale x-ray microtomography imaging for in-situ measurement of a variety of multi-phase porous media flow variables. Pioneering work on direct measurement of fluid-fluid interfacial areas, quantifying experimental fluid-fluid interfacial curvatures at different wetting conditions and developing experimental protocols for imaging biofilm in porous media using novel contrast agents are just some of the examples. At the same time, she has actively worked on using the measurements (digital topology and geometry) to better understand the mechanisms of capillary trapping and wettability changes in modeling multiphase fluid displacement and in applications such as secure carbon dioxide storage.
Join us for a great session in Qingdao celebrating the use of high-resolution imaging and related modeling to interpret a large number of flow, transport, reactive ad biological processes in porous media!
