Wetting Front Dynamics in Isotropic Porous Media

Abstract

A new approach to the modelling of wetting fronts in porous media on the Darcy scale is developed, based on considering the types (modes) of motion the menisci go through on the pore scale. This approach is illustrated using a simple model case of imbibition of a viscous incompressible liquid into an isotropic porous matrix with two modes of motion for the menisci, the wetting mode and the threshold mode. The latter makes it necessary to introduce an essentially new technique of conjugate problems that allows one to link threshold phenomena on the pore scale with the motion on the Darcy scale. The developed approach (a) makes room for incorporating the actual physics of wetting on the pore scale, (b) brings in the physics associated with pore-scale thresholds, which determine when sections of the wetting front will be brought to a halt (pinned), and, importantly, (c) provides a regular framework for constructing models of increasing complexity.

References in corpus (3)

• Imbibition in Disordered Media
• Dynamics of stable viscous displacement in porous media
• Dynamics of Wetting Fronts in Porous Media

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Anomalous Front Broadening During Spontaneous Imbibition in a Matrix with Elongated Pores
• Scaling theory for spontaneous imbibition in random networks of elongated pores
• On the anomalous dynamics of capillary rise in porous media
• Dynamic contact angle of a liquid spreading on an unsaturated wettable porous substrate