Capillary rise in porous media

Capillary rise experiments were performed in columns filled with glass beads and Berea sandstones, using visual methods to register the advance of the water front. For the glass-bead-filled columns, early time data is well fitted by the Washburn equation. However in the experiments, the advancing front exceeded the predicted equilibrium height. For large times, an algebraic behavior of the velocity of the front is observed (T. Delker, D. Pengra and P. Wong, Phys. Rev. Lett. 76 (1996) 2902). A model to study the capillary pressure evolution in a regular assembly of spheres is proposed and developed. It is based on a quasi-static advance of the meniscus with a piston-like motion, and allows to estimate the hydraulic equilibrium height, with values very close to those obtained by fitting early time data to a Washburn equation. The change of regime is explained as a transition in the mechanism of advance of the meniscus. On the other hand, only the Washburn regime was observed for the sandstones. The front velocity was fitted to an algebraical form with an exponent close to 0.5, a value expected from the asymptotic limit of the Washburn equation.     

MR measurement of critical phase transition dynamics and supercritical fluid dynamics in capillary and porous media flow

Supercritical fluids (SCF) are useful solvents in green chemistry and oil recovery and are of great current interest in the context of carbon sequestration. Magnetic resonance techniques were applied to study near critical and supercritical dynamics for pump driven flow through a capillary and a packed bed porous media. Velocity maps and displacement propagators measure the dynamics of C(2)F(6) at pressures below, at, and above the critical pressure and at temperatures below and above the critical temperature. Displacement propagators were measured at various displacement observation times to quantify the time evolution of dynamics. In capillary flow, the critical phase transition fluid C(2)F(6) showed increased compressibility compared to the near critical gas and supercritical fluid. These flows exhibit large variations in buoyancy arising from large changes in density due to very small changes in temperature.     

Singularity-free approximate analytical solution of capillary rise dynamics

正Capillary rise is one of the most well-known and vivid illustrations of capillarity(shown in Figure 1).Knowledge of capillarity laws is important in oil recovery,civil engineering,dyeing of textile fabrics,ink printing,and a variety of other fields.It is capillarity that brings water to the upper layer of soils,drives sap in plants,or lays the basis for the operation of pens[1-10].Washburn[1]developed an equation to describe the rate     

Surface dynamics of liquids in porous media.

We report remarkable differences in the 1H nuclear magnetic relaxation dispersion data (NMRD) between water and other common aprotic solvents such as acetone when in contact with high surface area calibrated microporous chromatographic silica glasses that contain trace paramagnetic impurities located at or close to the pore surface. All these differences have been related to the particular chemical behaviors and dynamics of these liquids at the pore surface. We apply this technique to probe the structure and dynamics of water and oil at the surface of calibrated macroporous systems, where similar surface dynamics effects have been observed. This technique is also applied to follow the first hydration stage of a white cement-paste. Last, we present an analysis of the magnetic field dependence of 1H nuclear relaxation data to exhibit the microporosity of ultra high performance concretes.     

Trapping and mobilization of residual fluid during capillary desaturation in porous media

We discuss the problem of trapping and mobilization of nonwetting fluids during immiscible two-phase displacement processes in porous media. Capillary desaturation curves give residual saturations as a function of capillary number. Interpreting capillary numbers as the ratio of viscous to capillary forces the breakpoint in experimental curves contradicts the theoretically predicted force balance. We show that replotting the data against a novel macroscopic capillary number resolves the problem for discontinuous mode displacement.     

毛细多孔介质在液氮中的传热试验研究

为了研究毛细多孔介质在液氮中的传热性能,进行了在试验件中不填充和填充超细玻璃棉的试验。采用低温热电偶连续测量试验件的5个不同位置的温度,得到了5条温度曲线。分析曲线表明超细玻璃棉对传热过程有明显的强化作用,且能使试验件在一段时间内保持相对稳定的低温。并从理论上分析了换热过程,整理了换热方程组。     

Molecular dynamics simulation of decomposition and thermal conductivity of methane hydrate in porous media

The hydrate has characteristics of low thermal conductivity and temperature sensitivity. To further analysis the mechanism of thermal conductivity and provide method for the exploitation, transportation and utilization of hydrate, the effect of decomposition and thermal conductivity of methane hydrate in porous media has been studied by using the molecular dynamics simulation. In this study, the simulation is carried out under the condition of temperature 253.15 K-273.15 K and pressure 1 MPa. The results show that the thermal conductivity of methane hydrate increases with the increase of temperature and has a faster growth near freezing. With the addition of porous media, the thermal conductivity of the methane hydrate improves significantly. The methane hydrate-porous media system also has the characteristics of vitreous body.With the decrease of the pore size of the porous media, thermal conductivity of the system increases gradually at the same temperature. It can be ascertained that the porous media of different pore sizes have strengthened the role of the thermal conductivity of hydrates.     

Transient dynamics of pinning of domain wall

We study the evolution of an elastic string, serving as model for a domain wall, into the pinned state at driving forces slightly below the depinning threshold force F_c. We quantify the temporal evolution of the string by an activity function A(t) representing the fraction of active nodes at time t and find three distinct dynamic regimes. There is an initial stage of fast decay of the activity; in the second, intermediate, regime, an exponential decay of activity is observed; and, eventually, the fast collapse of the string towards its final pinned state results in decay in the activity with A_r∼(t_p−t)^ψ, where t_p is the pinning time in the finite system involved.     

Numerical simulation and application of three-dimensional oil resources migration-accumulation of fluid dynamics in porous media

Numerical simulation of oil migration and accumulation is to describe the history of oil migration and accumulation in basin evolution. It is of great value in evaluation of oil resources and determination of the location and amount of oil deposits. Based on such actual conditions as the effects of fluid mechanics in porous media and 3-dimensional geology characteristics, a kind of modified method of second order upwind finite difference fractional steps implicit interactive scheme was put forward. As for the actual problem of Dongying hollow, Huimin hollow, Tanhai region and Yangxin hollow in Shengli Petroleum Oil Field, a numerical simulation test was carried out, and the result is basically coincident with the actual conditions. For the model problem, optimal order estimates were derived. Thus the well-known problem on oil resources was solved. Supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 1999032803), the National Program for Tackling Key Problems (Grant No. 20050200069), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 10771124 and 10372052), and the Doctorate Foundation of the Ministry of Education of China (Grant No. 20030422047)     

Three-dimensional finite-element simulation of Zener pinning dynamics

The Zener pinning dynamics of a moving boundary interacting with one or more particles is described by a three-dimensional (3D) finite-element model. The model, based upon a variational formulation for boundary motion by viscous drag, is solved by a finite-element method to obtain the velocity at each node of triangular linear elements on the grain boundary. It is first applied to relatively simple and validated cases, for which analytical and numerical results are available. These cases correspond to an axisymmetrical geometry, in which the grain boundary interacts with a centred particle. A simple analytical pinning criterion is derived from these simulations. The model is then applied to general 3D cases, in which the grain boundary interacts with arbitrarily localized and sized particles. The aim of these 3D simulations is to quantify the influence of the position and the number of particles on the average grain-boundary velocity. It is shown, for example, that the drag effect is enhanced when the particle, or the cluster of particles, is off-centre and that pinning is less efficient with several particles than with a single particle producing the same Zener force.     

Anisotropy of the phonon-phason dynamics and the pinning effect in icosahedral AlPdMn quasicrystals

A minimal model of the phonon-phason dynamics in icosahedral quasicrystals with inclusion of the pinning effect is suggested. Resonant attenuation of low-frequency acoustic waves in the temperature range corresponding to thermal activation of phasons is considered. In the long-wave length limit, the velocity of acoustic phonons is isotropic; however, the phonon-phason coupling causes anisotropy of the velocity and of the attenuation of acoustic waves with small wave vectors. These effects manifest themselves most strongly at an acoustic wave frequency close to the inverse relaxation time of phasons with the same wave vector. The pinning effect can cause a significant decrease in the anisotropy of the velocity and of attenuation of acoustic waves.     

Kinetic roughening and pinning of two coupled interfaces in disordered media

We studied the kinetic roughening dynamic of two coupled interfaces formed in paper wetting experiments at low evaporation rate. We observed three different regimes of impregnation in which kinetic roughening dynamics of coupled precursor and main fronts belong to different universality classes; nevertheless both interfaces are pinned in the same configuration. Reported experimental observations provide a novel insight into the nature of kinetic roughening phenomena occurring in the vast variety of systems far from equilibrium.     

Immiscible displacement of oil by water in consolidated porous media due to capillary imbibition under ultrasonic waves

Numerous studies done in the last four decades have demonstrated that acoustic stimulation may enhance recovery in oil reservoirs. This technology is not only technically feasible, but also serves as an economical, environmentally friendly alternative to currently accepted enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method. It requires low capital expenditure, and yields almost immediate improvement without any additional EOR agents. Despite a vast body of empirical and theoretical support, this method lacks sufficient understanding to make meaningful and consistent engineering predictions. This is in part due to the complex nature of the physical processes involved, as well as due to a shortage of fundamental/experimental research. Much of what the authors believe is happening within acoustically stimulated porous media is speculative and theoretical. This paper focuses on the effects of ultrasound on the interfacial forces between immiscible fluids. Capillary (spontaneous) imbibition of an aqueous phase into oil (or air)-saturated Berea sandstone and Indiana limestone samples experiments were conducted. Solutions of water, brine (15,000 and 150,000 ppm NaCl), anionic surfactant (sodium dodecyl diphenyloxide disulfonate), nonionic surfactant (alcohol ethoxylate) and polymer (xanthan gum) were prepared as the aqueous phase. Both counter-current and co-current geometries were tested. Due to the intrinsically unforced, gentle nature of the process, and their strong dependence on wettability, interfacial tension, viscosity and density, such experiments provide valuable insight into some of the governing mechanisms behind ultrasonic stimulation.     

Nonequilibrium dynamics in type-II superconductors with inhomogeneous vortex pinning

We study numerically the dynamics relating to negative vortex motion in inhomogeneous pinning systems. We show that this dynamical phenomenon results from the internal field effect produced by the growing local barriers with decreasing temperature. We find that the negative motion is characterized by a peak of negative voltage or resistance in resistance–temperature transport measurements. We also demonstrate that the time window to observe the negative motion is determined by the magnitude of driving force in addition to the temperature scanning rate.