Abstract
We establish a comprehensive description of the patterns formed when a wetting liquid displaces a viscous fluid confined in a porous medium. Building on model microfluidic experiments, we evidence four imbibition scenarios all yielding different large-scale morphologies. Combining high-resolution imaging and confocal microscopy, we show that they originate from two liquid-entrainment transitions and a Rayleigh-Plateau instability at the pore scale. Finally, we demonstrate and explain the long-time coarsening of the resulting patterns.
- Received 19 May 2017
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.208005
© 2017 American Physical Society
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Focus
Video—Physics of Oil Recovery
Published 17 November 2017
Experiments mimicking a common oil drilling technique, in which fluid is forced into an oil-filled, porous medium, have uncovered four different flow patterns.
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