Gravity stabilized drainage in porous media with controlled disorder

This work presents an experimental, numerical, and theoretical investigation of slow drainage processes in porous media, focusing on systematic variations in pore-scale disorder. We examine a system comprising a monolayer of cylinders in a quasi-two-dimensional (2D) geometry, where the medium's...

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Main Authors: Khobaib Khobaib, Paula Reis, Marcel Moura, Renaud Toussaint, Eirik Grude Flekkøy, Knut Jørgen Måløy
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Physical Society 2025-04-01
Series:Physical Review Research
Online Access:http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.7.023040
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author Khobaib Khobaib
Paula Reis
Marcel Moura
Renaud Toussaint
Eirik Grude Flekkøy
Knut Jørgen Måløy
author_facet Khobaib Khobaib
Paula Reis
Marcel Moura
Renaud Toussaint
Eirik Grude Flekkøy
Knut Jørgen Måløy
author_sort Khobaib Khobaib
collection DOAJ
description This work presents an experimental, numerical, and theoretical investigation of slow drainage processes in porous media, focusing on systematic variations in pore-scale disorder. We examine a system comprising a monolayer of cylinders in a quasi-two-dimensional (2D) geometry, where the medium's disorder is controlled via a disorder parameter, ε. By systematically altering ε, we randomly shift the positions of the cylinders and analyze the resulting effects on the gravity stabilized invasion front. Our results show that increasing ε has a significant impact on the stable width of the invasion front, with this width scaling with the disorder parameter according to an exponent β=0.57, which closely matches the theoretical value predicted by percolation theory for 2D systems. Additionally, we derive a reciprocal relationship between the dimensionless fluctuation number and the disorder parameter ε. Moreover, we find a correlation between the invasion front width and the size of trapped clusters in the system, and we explore how pore disorder affects the air saturation left behind the invasion front. Both our experimental and numerical findings exhibit exponent values that align with theoretical scaling predictions. This study advances the current understanding of multiphase flows in porous media by specifically addressing the influence of pore-scale disorder on the morphology of invasion fronts.
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spelling doaj-art-178c5bbca14f4aab8b8c1d61ea49a1c12025-08-20T02:09:12ZengAmerican Physical SocietyPhysical Review Research2643-15642025-04-017202304010.1103/PhysRevResearch.7.023040Gravity stabilized drainage in porous media with controlled disorderKhobaib KhobaibPaula ReisMarcel MouraRenaud ToussaintEirik Grude FlekkøyKnut Jørgen MåløyThis work presents an experimental, numerical, and theoretical investigation of slow drainage processes in porous media, focusing on systematic variations in pore-scale disorder. We examine a system comprising a monolayer of cylinders in a quasi-two-dimensional (2D) geometry, where the medium's disorder is controlled via a disorder parameter, ε. By systematically altering ε, we randomly shift the positions of the cylinders and analyze the resulting effects on the gravity stabilized invasion front. Our results show that increasing ε has a significant impact on the stable width of the invasion front, with this width scaling with the disorder parameter according to an exponent β=0.57, which closely matches the theoretical value predicted by percolation theory for 2D systems. Additionally, we derive a reciprocal relationship between the dimensionless fluctuation number and the disorder parameter ε. Moreover, we find a correlation between the invasion front width and the size of trapped clusters in the system, and we explore how pore disorder affects the air saturation left behind the invasion front. Both our experimental and numerical findings exhibit exponent values that align with theoretical scaling predictions. This study advances the current understanding of multiphase flows in porous media by specifically addressing the influence of pore-scale disorder on the morphology of invasion fronts.http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.7.023040
spellingShingle Khobaib Khobaib
Paula Reis
Marcel Moura
Renaud Toussaint
Eirik Grude Flekkøy
Knut Jørgen Måløy
Gravity stabilized drainage in porous media with controlled disorder
Physical Review Research
title Gravity stabilized drainage in porous media with controlled disorder
title_full Gravity stabilized drainage in porous media with controlled disorder
title_fullStr Gravity stabilized drainage in porous media with controlled disorder
title_full_unstemmed Gravity stabilized drainage in porous media with controlled disorder
title_short Gravity stabilized drainage in porous media with controlled disorder
title_sort gravity stabilized drainage in porous media with controlled disorder
url http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.7.023040
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AT renaudtoussaint gravitystabilizeddrainageinporousmediawithcontrolleddisorder
AT eirikgrudeflekkøy gravitystabilizeddrainageinporousmediawithcontrolleddisorder
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