Avalanches in strong imbibition

TitleAvalanches in strong imbibition
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2022
AuthorsPrimkulov, B, Zhao, B, MacMinn, CW, Juanes, R
Volume5
Issue1
Pagination52
Date Published2022/03/11
ISBN Number2399-3650
Abstract

Slow injection of non-wetting fluids (drainage) and strongly wetting fluids (strong imbibition) into porous media are two contrasting processes in many respects: the former must be forced into the pore space, while the latter imbibe spontaneously; the former occupy pore bodies, while the latter coat crevices and corners. These two processes also produce distinctly different displacement patterns. However, both processes evolve via a series of avalanche-like invasion events punctuated by quiescent periods. Here, we show that, despite their mechanistic differences, avalanches in strong imbibition exhibit all the features of self-organized criticality previously documented for drainage, including the correlation scaling describing the space-time statistics of invasion at the pore scale.

URLhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-022-00826-1
Short TitleCommunications Physics