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Wettability control on multiphase flow in patterned microfluidics.

Benzhong Zhao1, Christopher W MacMinn2, Ruben Juanes3

  • 1Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139;

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|August 26, 2016
PubMed
Summary

Wettability significantly impacts multiphase flow in porous media. Optimal displacement efficiency occurs at a critical wetting transition, with pore-scale mechanisms like cooperative pore filling and corner flow governing macroscale behavior.

Keywords:
capillaritymicrofluidicspattern formationporous mediawettability

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Area of Science:

  • Fluid dynamics
  • Porous media science
  • Interfacial phenomena

Background:

  • Multiphase flow in porous media is crucial for processes like CO2 sequestration and oil recovery.
  • Understanding wettability's role in fluid displacement is vital but remains challenging at multiple scales.
  • Disordered media present complex flow pathways influenced by fluid-solid interactions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of wettability on viscously unfavorable fluid-fluid displacement in disordered porous media.
  • To identify pore-scale mechanisms responsible for macroscale flow behavior under varying wettability conditions.
  • To explore how wettability influences invasion protocols in porous media.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized high-resolution imaging in microfluidic flow cells with patterned vertical posts.
  • Systematically varied substrate wettability across a range of contact angles.
  • Analyzed pore-scale mechanisms, including cooperative pore filling and corner flow.

Main Results:

  • Displacement efficiency increases with substrate affinity for the invading fluid up to a critical wetting transition.
  • Beyond the critical transition, increasing wettability leads to decreased displacement efficiency.
  • Identified cooperative pore filling and corner flow as key pore-scale mechanisms controlling macroscale behavior.
  • Demonstrated that invasion protocols (e.g., pore filling, postbridging) are dictated by these physical mechanisms.

Conclusions:

  • Wettability exerts powerful control over multiphase flow in porous media.
  • The interplay between cooperative pore filling and corner flow, influenced by wettability, determines overall displacement efficiency.
  • Current pore-scale and continuum-scale models may lack the necessary physical mechanisms to fully describe wettability-driven invasion dynamics.