Microfluidic investigations of flow and transport in porous and fractured media have the potential to play a significant role in the development of future subsurface energy resource technologies. However, the majority of experimental systems to date are limited in applicability due to operating conditions and/or the use of engineered material micromodels. We have developed a high pressure and temperature microfluidic experimental system that allows for direct observations of flow and transport within geo-material micromodels (e.g. rock, cement) at reservoir conditions. In this manuscript, we describe the experimental system, including our novel micromodel fabrication method that works in both geo- and engineered materials and utilizes 3-D tomography images of real fractures as micromodel templates to better represent the pore space and fracture geometries expected in subsurface formations. We present experimental results that highlight the advantages of using real-rock micromodels and discuss potential areas of research that could benefit from geo-material microfluidic investigations. The experiments include fracture-matrix interaction in which water imbibes into the shale rock matrix from etched fractures, supercritical CO2 (scCO2) displacing brine in idealized and realistic fracture patterns, and three-phase flow involving scCO2-brine-oil.
Excitons and charged excitons (trions) are investigated in ZnSe-based quantum well structures with (Zn,Be,Mg)Se and (Zn,Mg)(S,Se) barriers by means of magneto-optical spectroscopy. Binding energies of negatively-(X − ) and positively (X + ) charged excitons are measured as functions of quantum well width, free carrier density and in external magnetic fields up to 47 T. The binding energy of X − shows a strong increase from 1.4 to 8.9 meV with decreasing quantum well width from 190 to 29Å. The binding energies of X + are about 25% smaller than the X − binding energy in the same structures. The magnetic field behavior of X − and X + binding energies differ qualitatively. With growing magnetic field strength, X − increases its binding energy by 35-150%, while for X + it decreases by 25%. Zeeman spin splittings and oscillator strengths of excitons and trions are measured and discussed.
An all optical-fiber-based approach to measuring high explosive detonation front position and velocity is described. By measuring total light return using an incoherent light source reflected from a linearly chirped fiber Bragg grating sensor in contact with the explosive, dynamic mapping of the detonation front position and velocity versus time is obtained. We demonstrate two calibration procedures and provide several examples of detonation front measurements: PBX 9502 cylindrical rate stick, radial detonation front in PBX 9501, and PBX 9501 detonation along curved meridian line. In the cylindrical rate stick measurement, excellent agreement with complementary diagnostics (electrical pins and streak camera imaging) is achieved, demonstrating accuracy in the detonation front velocity to below the 0.3% level when compared to the results from the pin data. Finally, an estimate on the linear spatial and temporal resolution of the system shows that sub-mm and sub-μs levels are attainable with proper consideration of the recording speed, detection sensitivity, spectrum, and chirp properties of the grating.
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