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Updated: Nov 6, 2025

Microfluidic Devices for Characterizing Pore-scale Event Processes in Porous Media for Oil Recovery Applications
Published on: January 16, 2018
Pore-Scale Mixing and the Evolution of Hydrodynamic Dispersion in Porous Media
Alexandre Puyguiraud1, Philippe Gouze1, Marco Dentz1
1Spanish National Research Council (IDAEA-CSIC), 08034, Barcelona, Spain and Geoscience Montpellier, CNRS, Université de Montpellier, 34090, Montpellier, France.
Abstract:
We study the interplay of pore-scale mixing and network-scale advection through heterogeneous porous media, and its role for the evolution and asymptotic behavior of hydrodynamic dispersion. In a Lagrangian framework, we identify three fundamental mechanisms of pore-scale mixing that determine large scale particle motion, namely, the smoothing of intrapore velocity contrasts, the increase of the tortuosity of particle paths, and the setting of a maximum time for particle transitions. Based on these mechanisms, we derive a theory that predicts anomalous and normal hydrodynamic dispersion in terms of the characteristic pore length, Eulerian velocity distribution, and Péclet number.
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