Capillarity-Driven Oil Flow in Nanopores: Darcy Scale Analysis of Lucas–Washburn Imbibition Dynamics

Gruener, Simon; Huber, Patrick

doi:10.1007/s11242-018-1133-z

Cited by 31 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 103 publications

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“…Unlike other less complex porous media, e.g. Gruener & Huber 12 , the ingress of liquid within timber is not predicted accurately by application of Darcy’s law 13 nor the classical Lucas–Washburn equation 14,15 , i.e. the ingress does not adhere to a behaviour 9,16–18 .…”

Section: Overview and Contextmentioning

confidence: 89%

The transport of liquids in softwood: timber as a model porous medium

Burridge

Reynolds

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

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Timber is the only widely used construction material we can grow. The wood from which it comes has evolved to provide structural support for the tree and to act as a conduit for fluid flow. These flow paths are crucial for engineers to exploit the full potential of timber, by allowing impregnation with liquids that modify the properties or resilience of this natural material. Accurately predicting the transport of these liquids enables more efficient industrial timber treatment processes to be developed, thereby extending the scope to use this sustainable construction material; moreover, it is of fundamental scientific value — as a fluid flow within a natural porous medium. Both structural and transport properties of wood depend on its micro-structure but, while a substantial body of research relates the structural performance of wood to its detailed architecture, no such knowledge exists for the transport properties. We present a model, based on increasingly refined geometric parameters, that accurately predicts the time-dependent ingress of liquids within softwood timber, thereby addressing this long-standing scientific challenge. Moreover, we show that for the minimalistic parameterisation the model predicts ingress with a square-root-of-time behaviour. However, experimental data show a potentially significant departure from this behaviour — a departure which is successfully predicted by our more advanced parametrisation. Our parameterisation of the timber microstructure was informed by computed tomographic measurements; model predictions were validated by comparison with experimental data. We show that accurate predictions require statistical representation of the variability in the timber pore space. The collapse of our dimensionless experimental data demonstrates clear potential for our results to be up-scaled to industrial treatment processes.

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Section: Overview and Contextmentioning

confidence: 89%

The transport of liquids in softwood: timber as a model porous medium

Burridge

Reynolds

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

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“…This well‐known Lucas‐Washburn law [19,20] in capillaries is a consequence of the interplay of time independence of the mean capillary pressure and a progressively increasing viscous drag in the liquid column. The same universal scaling is observed in the random porous medium of the paper matrix over length and time scales that are substantially larger than the relevant microscopic scales [6,21,22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 60%

Anomalous diffusion in an electrolyte saturated paper matrix

Das

Kumar

Ghosal³

et al. 2020

Electrophoresis

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Anomalous diffusion in an electrolyte saturated paper matrixDiffusion of colored dye on water saturated paper substrates has been traditionally exploited with great skill by renowned water color artists. The same physics finds more recent practical applications in paper-based diagnostic devices deploying chemicals that react with a bodily fluid yielding colorimetric signals for disease detection. During spontaneous imbibition through the tortuous pathways of a porous electrolyte saturated paper matrix, a dye molecule undergoes diffusion in a complex network of pores. The advancing front forms a strongly correlated interface that propagates diffusively but with an enhanced effective diffusivity. We measure this effective diffusivity and show that it is several orders of magnitude greater than the free solution diffusivity and has a significant dependence on the solution pH and salt concentration in the background electrolyte. We attribute this to electrically mediated interfacial interactions between the ionic species in the liquid dye and spontaneous surface charges developed at porous interfaces, and introduce a simple theory to explain this phenomenon.

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“…Most studies on two-phase (oil-water) transport modes in shale reservoirs mainly focus on the macroscopic scale. Das et al [7] and Gruener and Huber [8] analyzed the transport characteristics under capillary forces and explored the replacement effect of water on crude oil. eir researches show that interfacial tension can significantly affect the transport characteristics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study on Two-phase Flow Mechanisms in Nanopore Considering Microcosmic Deformation and Dynamic Capillary Force

et al. 2022

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Coring experiments show that nanopores are extensively distributed in shale oil reservoirs and tend to be deformed when a significant pressure variation exists, and thus the dynamic capillary force phenomenon and flow mechanisms in nanopores can be significantly changed. To characterize the two-phase flow mechanisms in nanopores influenced by the synergistic effect of microcosmic pore deformation and dynamic capillary force, models based on Gassmann’s theory are established to describe the variations of pore radius and roughness in a dynamic pressure field. And then, innovative methods to quantify the dynamic capillary force phenomenon under comprehensive influence of pore size, roughness, and pressure are developed. Meanwhile, mathematical models, considering the effect of the pore deformation and dynamic capillary force, are furtherly derived to characterize the water-oil two-phase flow behavior for relatively large nanopores in shale oil reservoir, which can be used to investigate the influence of the vital parameters. The results indicate that the dynamic capillary force phenomenon turns out to be more significant when variations of pore structure and pressure are considered simultaneously. Moreover, the pore deformation and dynamic capillary force caused by pressure change can exert remarkable synergistic influence on the transport capacity for typical flow modes. Bulk modulus is one of the key factors to determine the degree of influence. An optimal pressure can be obtained to coordinate the competitive effect of seepage channel and capillary force for water-drive-oil mode with limited driving force. Based on that, emphasis should be placed on pressure control during the shale oil development process. This work theoretically underpins the quantitative characterization and the analysis of two-phase flow in shale reservoirs at the nanopore scale.

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Capillarity-Driven Oil Flow in Nanopores: Darcy Scale Analysis of Lucas–Washburn Imbibition Dynamics

Cited by 31 publications

References 103 publications

The transport of liquids in softwood: timber as a model porous medium

The transport of liquids in softwood: timber as a model porous medium

Anomalous diffusion in an electrolyte saturated paper matrix

Study on Two-phase Flow Mechanisms in Nanopore Considering Microcosmic Deformation and Dynamic Capillary Force

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