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Updated: Mar 15, 2026

Investigating the Three-dimensional Flow Separation Induced by a Model Vocal Fold Polyp
Published on: February 3, 2014
Plume dynamics in Hele-Shaw porous media convection
Robert E Ecke1, Scott Backhaus2
1MPA-CMMS and CNLS, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA ecke@lanl.gov.
Abstract:
Mass transport in multi-species porous media is through molecular diffusion and plume dynamics. Predicting the rate of mass transport has application in determining the efficiency of the storage and sequestration of carbon dioxide. We study a water and propylene-glycol system enclosed in a Hele-Shaw cell with variable permeability that represents a laboratory analogue of the general properties of porous media convection. The interface between the fluids, tracked using an optical shadowgraph technique, is used to determine the mass transport rate, the spatial separation of solutal plumes, and the velocity and width characteristics of those plumes. One finds that the plume dynamics are closely related to the mass transport rate.This article is part of the themed issue 'Energy and the subsurface'.
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