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Gravity‐destabilized nonwetting phase invasion in macroheterogeneous porous media: Near‐pore‐scale macro modified invasion percolation simulation of experiments
Author(s) -
Glass Robert J.,
Conrad Stephen H.,
Yarrington Lane
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/2000wr900294
Subject(s) - porous medium , percolation (cognitive psychology) , capillary action , viscous fingering , scaling , materials science , pore water pressure , phase (matter) , percolation theory , saturation (graph theory) , porosity , geotechnical engineering , mechanics , geology , chemistry , composite material , physics , geometry , conductivity , mathematics , organic chemistry , combinatorics , neuroscience , biology
We reconceptualize “macro” modified invasion percolation (MMIP) at the near pore (NP) scale and apply it to simulate the nonwetting phase invasion experiments of Glass et al . [2000] conducted in macroheterogeneous porous media. For experiments where viscous forces were nonnegligible, we redefine the total pore filling pressure to include viscous losses within the invading phase as well as the viscous influence to decrease randomness imposed by capillary forces at the front. NP MMIP exhibits the complex invasion order seen experimentally with characteristic alternations between periods of gravity‐stabilized and destabilized invasion growth controlled by capillary barriers. The breaching of these barriers and subsequent pore‐scale fingering of the nonwetting phase is represented extremely well, as is the saturation field evolution and total volume invaded.