Roughening dynamics of spontaneous radial imbibition

TL;DR

This study experimentally investigates the roughening dynamics of water spreading in porous media within a radial Hele-Shaw cell, confirming scaling laws and identifying unique exponents for the interface growth and roughness.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the scaling behavior and roughening dynamics of radial imbibition, highlighting differences from planar interface cases.

Findings

Confirmed Washburn's law in radial imbibition

Identified a growth exponent eta=0.6 independent of inlet pressure

Roughness exponent decreases with increasing pressure

Abstract

We performed an experimental observation on the spontaneous imbibition of water in a porous media in a radial Hele-Shaw cell and confirmed Washburn's law, where r is distance and t is time. Spontaneous imbibition with a radial interface window followed scaling dynamics when the front invaded into the porous media. We found a growth exponent (\b{eta}=0.6) that was independent of the pressure applied at the liquid inlet. The roughness exponent decreased with an increase in pressure. The roughening dynamics of two dimensional spontaneous radial imbibition obey Family-Vicsek scaling, which is different from that with a one-dimensional planar interface window.