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

多孔介质中多相流体动力学的升级技术面临的主要挑战是确定微观尺度上的哪些性质可以用于预测宏观流动以及岩心和油田尺度上流体相的空间分布。在过去的十年里，第一性原理的理论表述是从体积平均定理推导出来的，其中微观界面行为被明确地纳入其中。这些理论提出了单位体积界面面积直接影响宏观行为，并且该变量可能控制毛管压力-饱和度关系中观察到的滞后。本提案的科学目标是测量多孔介质中多相之间界面的演化。二维和三维微观模型将用于直接成像和量化界面几何形状的行为，同时测量流体压力（全局和局部）和流体流动。具体的科学目标是：(a)确定毛细管压力、饱和度和每体积界面面积之间的整体平均关系是否适用于统计上相似的孔隙分布；(b)量化稳态流动条件下界面几何形状、饱和度和相对渗透率之间的关系；(c)确定与动态流动条件相关的松弛系数是否取决于界面几何形状随时间的演变。此外，我们建议从两个方面革新微模型在多孔介质流体研究中的应用：(a)将局部探针纳入二维微模型以测量局部压力；(b)开发了一种新的双光子光刻技术，用于创建透明的三维微观模型，可以通过激光共聚焦显微镜直接成像。价值标准:1。所提出的活动的智力优点是获取连接界面区域的显式数据集，以及其他相关的几何微尺度数据，以及真正三维微观模型上的宏观水力特性。所提出的实验方法和分析方法的结合将使我们第一次有可能回答这样一个基本问题，即哪种微观性质对预测多孔介质的宏观流动性质最有用。拟议活动的更广泛影响将证实/反驳用于解决多孔介质中多种流体流动和分布预测的理论方法，这些方法影响石油，天然气和水生产，地下水保护，化学工程中的化学混合和处理以及生物学和生物工程的多孔组织应用。我们的外展目标有三个方面：(1)培养和教育实验室研究科学的研究生和本科生；(2)与科学教育专业的学生合作开发7-12年级的动手实验；(3)将动手实验整合到我们的物理拓展计划中，该计划面向7-12年级的学生，以及印第安纳州的家长和老师。

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.