Drying patterns of porous media containing wettability contrasts

Porous media containing sharp wettability discontinuities may occur in natural systems due to depositional processes, accumulation of organic layers or modification of soil wettability following intense forest fires all of which are known to significantly modify water flow and transport processes. We studied evaporation from sand columns containing hydraulically-interacting domains with sharp wettability contrasts. We employed neutron transmission technique to map liquid phase dynamics during evaporation, and conducted laboratory experiments to evaluate evaporative fluxes affected by interactions across wettability contrast. We explained the preferential drying front displacement in the hydrophobic domain and the spatial extent of capillary flow supporting the vaporization plane using a physically-based model. The model provides description of observed liquid phase patterns and dynamics observed in neutron radiography measurements and evaporative fluxes from laboratory experiments. Our results provide new insights into evaporation induced capillary exchange and preferential liquid phase distribution during evaporation from hydraulically interacting vertical porous domains with differing wettability properties and offer opportunities for design of selectively drying of porous media in natural and engineered systems.