Title : Multiphase Flow and Reactive Transport in Porous Media: an Experimental Microfluidic Approach
Speaker: Dr. Sophie Roman
Affiliation: Associate Professor - University of Orléans (France)
Abstract:
There is a strong interest in imaging and numerical modeling of multiphase and reactive flow at the pore scale with application to reservoir engineering, subsurface hydrology, soil remediation, and CO2 sequestration. The dynamics at the pore-scale, however, remain relatively unknown but influence macroscale behaviors considerably. Indeed, the mechanisms and consequences of local processes, such as interfacial jumps, contact-line dynamics, are largely unexplored and not well understood, as well as quantifying the porosity evolution and its consequences on transport parameters (e.g. permeability, diffusivity) during dissolution and precipitation processes. Using micromodels experiments we explore pore scale mechanisms and their consequences on the upscaling of rock and fluid properties.
Micromodel systems are transparent pore networks that allow direct and in situ visualizations of pore scale events. We use micro-Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) to visualize the velocity distributions inside immobile globules of water while a non-aqueous phase is injected in order to evaluate the momentum transfer across the fluid-fluid interface. We investigate the dissolution of solid minerals at the pore-scale to understand the couplings between chemical reaction and fluid flow. Finally, we present our new experimental setup that combines microfluidics experiments with Raman spectroscopic techniques to investigate in-situ the mineral transformation at the pore scale.
