Burst dynamics, up-scaling and dissipation of slow drainage in porous media

TL;DR

This paper combines theoretical and experimental approaches to analyze drainage in porous media, focusing on stabilized fluid fronts and incorporating forces like capillary, viscous, and gravitational effects to predict system behavior.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive theoretical framework that links microscopic invasion dynamics to macroscopic drainage properties using dimensionless parameters and fractal analysis.

Findings

Work, energy dissipation, and saturation can be predicted from system parameters.

Haines jumps' local activity relates to larger-scale dissipation.

The model explains stabilization and front width in drainage processes.

Abstract

We present a theoretical and experimental investigation of drainage in porous media. The study is limited to stabilized fluid fronts at moderate injection rates, but it takes into account capillary, viscous, and gravitational forces. In this theory the work applied on the system, the energy dissipation, the final saturation and the width of the stabilized fluid front can all be calculated if we know the dimensionless fluctuation number, the wetting properties, the surface tension between the fluids, the fractal dimensions of the invasion front and the invading structure, and the exponent describing the divergence of the correlation length in percolation. This theoretical description explains how the Haines jumps' local activity and dissipation relate to dissipation on larger scales.