Zhao, Benzhong and MacMinn, Christopher W. and Szulczewski, Michael L. and Neufeld, Jerome A. and Huppert, Herbert E. and Juanes, Ruben (2013) Interface pinning of immiscible gravity-exchange flows in porous media. Physical Review E, 87 (2). 023015. ISSN ISSN: 1539-3755, ESSN: 1550-2376 DOI https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.87.023015
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Abstract
We study the gravity-exchange flow of two immiscible fluids in a porous medium and show that, in contrast with the miscible case, a portion of the initial interface remains pinned at all times. We elucidate, by means of micromodel experiments, the pore-level mechanism responsible for capillary pinning at the macroscale. We propose a sharp-interface gravity-current model that incorporates capillarity and quantitatively explains the experimental observations, including the x∼t1/2 spreading behavior at intermediate times and the fact that capillarity stops a finite-release current. Our theory and experiments suggest that capillary pinning is potentially an important, yet unexplored, trapping mechanism during CO2 sequestration in deep saline aquifers.
Item Type: | Article |
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Additional Information: | ©2013 American Physical Society |
Uncontrolled Keywords: | 2013AREP; IA65; |
Subjects: | 99 - Other |
Divisions: | 99 - Other |
Journal or Publication Title: | Physical Review E |
Volume: | 87 |
Page Range: | 023015 |
Identification Number: | https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.87.023015 |
Depositing User: | Sarah Humbert |
Date Deposited: | 31 Mar 2013 20:12 |
Last Modified: | 23 Jul 2013 10:05 |
URI: | http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/id/eprint/2737 |
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