U.S.-France Cooperative Research: Characterization of Surfactant Mass Transfer Kinetics and their Impact on Confined Multi-Phase Flows

这个为期三年的奖项支持美国和法国在化学系统方面的合作研究，参与者包括约翰霍普金斯大学的凯瑟琳·斯特贝、巴黎高等师范学院的多米尼克·朗格万和贡比涅工业大学的多米尼克·巴塞斯-比塞尔。研究人员将研究表面活性剂吸附对流体颗粒运动的影响，这些新应用包括：(1)多孔介质中泡沫的流动；(2)微重力流体处理过程中气泡和液滴的热毛细迁移；(3)表面活性剂分子吸附和解吸的动力学速率常数。表面活性剂的吸附及其作用对提高原油采收率具有重要意义。潜在的理论是，洗涤剂泡沫可以用来控制三次采油中驱替流体的流动性，从而改善其对岩石孔隙中油的去除控制。美国研究者在界面力学方面有丰富的理论和实验经验，特别关注与表面活性剂相关的界面现象。法国研究人员在软物质物理（表面活性剂和聚合物）和两相流方面的专业知识补充了这一点。该项目将受益于巴黎小组独特的实验仪器和光散射技术，用于分析界面上的毛细作用。该小组将在贡比涅进行气泡和表面活性剂吸附的相关实验。

This three-year award supports U.S.-France cooperative research in chemical systems involving Kathleen Stebe of Johns Hopkins University, Dominique Langevin of the Ecole Normale Superieure (Paris) and Dominique Barthes-Biesel of Compiegne University of Technology. The investigators will study the effects of surfactant adsorption on fluid particle motions within the context of new applications including: (1) the flow of foams in porous media; (2) thermocapillary migration of bubbles and drops in microgravity fluids processing; and (3) kinetic rate constants for adsorption and desorption of surfactant molecules. Surfactant adsorption and its effects may be important for enhanced oil recovery. The underlying theory is that detergent foams could be used to control the mobility of a displacing fluid in tertiary oil recovery and thereby improve its control for removing oil from rock pores. The U.S. investigator has extensive experience in both theory and experiments in interfacial mechanics, specifically focusing on surfactant related interfacial phenomena. This is complemented by the French investigators' expertise in soft matter physics (surfactants and polymers) and two phase flows. The project will benefit from the Paris group's unique experimental apparatus and light scattering technique for analyzing capillary action at interfaces. A related experiment on gas bubbles and surfactant adsorption will be conducted by the group in Compiegne.