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Forced Imbibition in Porous Media: A Fourfold Scenario

Céleste Odier, Bertrand Levaché, Enric Santanach-Carreras, and Denis Bartolo
Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 208005 – Published 17 November 2017
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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.

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  • Received 19 May 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.208005

© 2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Polymers & Soft Matter

Focus

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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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Authors & Affiliations

Céleste Odier1,2, Bertrand Levaché2,3, Enric Santanach-Carreras2,3, and Denis Bartolo1,*

  • 1Univ Lyon, Ens de Lyon, Univ Claude Bernard, CNRS, Laboratoire de Physique, F-69342 Lyon, France
  • 2Total SA. Pôle d’Etudes et Recherche de Lacq, BP 47-64170 Lacq, France
  • 3Laboratoire Physico-Chimie des Interfaces Complexes, Total-ESPCI Paris-CNRS-UPMC, BP 47-64170 Lacq, France

  • *Corresponding author. denis.bartolo@ens-lyon.fr

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Issue

Vol. 119, Iss. 20 — 17 November 2017

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