Pore geometry control of apparent wetting in porous media.

ABSTRACT: Wettability, or preferential affinity of a fluid to a solid substrate in the presence of another fluid, plays a critical role in the statics and dynamics of fluid-fluid displacement in porous media. The complex confined geometry of porous media, however, makes upscaling of microscopic wettability to the macroscale a nontrivial task. Here, we elucidate the contribution of pore geometry in controlling the apparent wettability characteristics of a porous medium. Using direct numerical simulations of fluid-fluid displacement, we study the reversal of interface curvature in a single converging-diverging capillary, and demonstrate the co-existence of concave and convex interfaces in a porous medium-a phenomenon that we also observe in laboratory micromodel experiments. We show that under interme

SUBMITTER: Rabbani HS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6200799 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature