Experimental Investigation of Interfacial Geometry associated with Multiphase Flow within Two- and Three- Dimensional Porous Medium

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Pyrak-Nolte0509759The principal challenge of upscaling techniques for multi-phase fluid dynamics in porousmedia is to determine which properties on the micro-scale can be used to predict macroscopicflow and the spatial distribution of fluid phases at core- and field-scales. First-principlestheoretical formulations over the past decade have been derived from volume averagingtheorems in which microscopic interfacial behavior is explicitly incorporated. These theories haveproposed that interfacial area per volume directly affects macroscopic behavior, and that thisvariable may govern the observed hysteresis in the capillary pressure - saturation relationship.The scientific objective of this proposal is to measure the evolution of interfaces amongmultiple phases in a porous medium. Two- and three-dimensional micro-models will be used todirectly image and quantify the behavior of the interfacial geometry while concurrently measuringfluid pressures (globally and locally) and fluid flow. The specific scientific goals are: (a) todetermine if an ensemble-averaged relationship among capillary pressure, saturation andinterfacial area per volume may be universal for statistically similar pore distributions, (b) toquantify the relationship between interfacial geometry, saturation and relative permeability forsteady-state flow conditions, and (c) to determine if the relaxation coefficient associated withdynamic flow conditions depends on the evolution of the interfacial geometry with time. Inaddition, we propose to revolutionize the use of micro-models in the study of fluids in porousmedia in two ways: (a) the incorporation of local probes into two-dimensional micro-models tomeasure local pressures; and (b) the development of a new two-photon lithographic technique forcreating transparent three-dimensional micro-models that can be directly imaged by using laserconfocal microscopy.Merit Criteria:1. The intellectual merit of the proposed activity is the acquisition of explicit data setsconnecting interfacial areas, and other relevant geometric micro-scale data, with macroscopichydraulic properties on truly three-dimensional micro-models. The proposed combination ofexperimental methods and analysis will make it possible for the first time to answer the principalquestion of which microscopic properties are most useful for predicting macroscopic flowproperties of a porous medium.2. The broader impact from the proposed activity will be confirmation/disproof of theoreticalmethods used for addressing the prediction of flow and distributions of multiple fluids in a porousmedium which affects applications in oil, gas and water production, ground water protection,chemical mixing and processing in chemical engineering, and in porous tissue applications ofbiology and bioengineering. Our outreach objective is three-fold: (1) To train and educategraduate and undergraduate students in the science of laboratory research; (2) To work withscience education majors to develop hands-on experiments for grades 7-12; and (3) To integratethe hands-on experiments into our Physics Outreach Program which reaches students in grades7-12, as well as parents and teachers throughout Indiana.