Nonequilibrium Physics of Multiphase Flow in Porous Media: Wettability and Disorder

• Main Author: Juanes, Ruben
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: 58 GEOSCIENCES; permafrost
• Online Access: http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1859674; https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1859674; https://doi.org/10.2172/1859674

Carbon capture and geologic storage, dissociation of methane hydrates in permafrost, enhanced oil recovery, and water dropout in low-temperature fuel cells, all have something in common: two or more fluids flow simultaneously through a porous medium; and the displacement of one fluid by another is often unstable (either due to gravity or viscous forces). Yet, our ability to model multiphase flow in porous media has remained a challenge. The traditional equations are unable to predict, explain, or even reproduce, the formation of the complex patterns observed in experiments. The overarching goal of the project is to develop new physical understanding of the role of wettability and disorder in multiphase flow through permeable media, and to develop new mathematical and computational models at the pore scale and at the continuum scale.