: Experimental Investigations of Dynamic Multiphase Flow Processes Using 3D Printed Micromodels. Attached you will find the summary.

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The study of multiphase flow processes for applications in natural porous media (e.g. groundwater extraction, hydrocarbon production, geothermal energy, subsurface energy and CO2 storage) is complicated by both:1. the lack of a clear fundamental understanding of the physical and chemical processes underlying the transport phenomena;2. the uncertainties in the pore network/geometries in the porous media, which hinder both, prediction of the flow behaviour and the development of physically more accurate transport models.Advancements in additive manufacturing technologies provide opportunities for studying the various transport problems in multiphase systems independent of porous media uncertainties. At the pore scale, which is profoundly important for processes such as oil displacement in Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) and CO2 storage in Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), precise micromodels can be 3D printed to enable experimental studies with designed flow paths in a repeatable fashion. With sufficient technology development, this could evolve into experiments involving 3D printed cores in full knowledge and control of the pore geometries.In this project, various multiphase processes including, but not restricted too, injection of surfactant, polymer or CO2 will be visualised and compared with predictions, and deviations from predictions can aid the development of a better understanding which in turn will be used to improve predictive tools. The impact of parameters such as injection velocity, viscosity and wettability (i.e. contact angle between two fluids interface and the surface of the material) and how they control multiphase flow regimes (e.g. viscous and capillary fingering, pore-body filling, post finger coating) will be investigated. Control of wettability may be possible using the 3D printing technology itself, through changing the printing material, its roughness, or through surface coating. The far-reaching aim of this project is to open the door to the development of fully predictive Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models of pore-scale multiphase flow.