Searcharxiv⌕ Search

arXiv subjects

Knut Jorgen Maloy

Publications and source records attributed to Knut Jorgen Maloy.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2020

Visualization by optical fluorescence of two-phase flow in a three-dimensional porous medium

Slow flow of a single fluid through a porous medium is well understood on a macroscopic level through Darcy's law, a linear relation between flow rate and a combination of pressure differences, viscosity, and gravitational forces. Two-phase flow is complicated by the interface separating the fluids, but understanding of two-dimensional, two-phase flow has been obtained from experiments using transparent cells. In most three-dimensional media, however, visual observation is difficult. Here, we present preliminary results of experiments on a model medium consisting of randomly packed glass spheres, in which one fluorescent liquid invades another. By refractive index matching and scanning with a sheet-shaped laser beam, we obtain slices of the flow patterns, which we combine into three-dimensional pictures. We observe a compact region of invading fluid, surrounded by finger-like protrusions. The compact region becomes more dominant with increasing invader flow rate. The patterns are theoretically analyzed in terms of the interplay between gravitational, viscous, and capillary forces.

cond-mat.soft↗
arXiv2007

Granular Rayleigh-Taylor Instability: Experiments and Simulations

A granular instability driven by gravity is studied experimentally and numerically. The instability arises as grains fall in a closed Hele-Shaw cell where a layer of dense granular material is positioned above a layer of air. The initially flat front defined by the grains subsequently develops into a pattern of falling granular fingers separated by rising bubbles of air. A transient coarsening of the front is observed right from the start by a finger merging process. The coarsening is later stabilized by new fingers growing from the center of the rising bubbles. The structures are quantified by means of Fourier analysis and quantitative agreement between experiment and computation is shown. This analysis also reveals scale invariance of the flow structures under overall change of spatial scale.

cond-mat.soft↗
arXiv2006

Dynamics and structure of interfacial crack fronts

The propagation of an interfacial crack front through a weak plane of a transparent Plexiglas block has been studied experimentally. A stable crack in mode I was generated by loading the system by an imposed displacement. The local velocities of the fracture front line have been measured by using an high speed CCD camera. The distribution of the velocities exhibits a power law behavior for velocities larger than the average front velocity with a crossover to a slowly increasing function for velocities lower than . The fluctuations in the velocities reflect an underlying irregular bursts activity with a power law distribution of the bursts. We further found that the size of the local bursts scales differently in the direction parallel to and perpendicular to the fracture front.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗
arXiv2003

Growth activity during fingering in a porous Hele Shaw cell

We present in this paper an experimental study of the invasion activity during unstable drainage in a 2D random porous medium, when the (wetting) displaced fluid has a high viscosity with respect to that of the (non-wetting) displacing fluid, and for a range of almost two decades in capillary numbers corresponding to the transition between capillary and viscous fingering. We show that the invasion process takes place in an active zone within a characteristic screening length from the tip of the most advanced finger. The invasion probability density is found to only depend on the distance to the latter tip, and to be independent of the value for the capillary number Ca. The mass density along the flow direction is related analytically to the invasion probability density, and the scaling with respect to the capillary number is consistent with a power law. Other quantities characteristic of the displacement process, such as the speed of the most advanced finger tip or the characteristic finger width, are also consistent with power laws of the capillary number. The link between the growth probability and the pressure field is studied analytically and an expression for the pressure in the defending fluid along the cluster is derived. The measured pressure are then compared with the corresponding simulated pressure field using this expression for the boundary condition on the cluster.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗
arXiv2000

Burst dynamics during drainage displacements in porous media: Simulations and experiments

We investigate the burst dynamics during drainage going from low to high injection rate at various fluid viscosities. The bursts are identified as pressure drops in the pressure signal across the system. We find that the statistical distribution of pressure drops scales according to other systems exhibiting self-organized criticality. The pressure signal was calculated by a network model that properly simulates drainage displacements. We compare our results with corresponding experiments.

cond-mat.soft↗
arXiv2000

Dynamics of stable viscous displacement in porous media

We investigate the stabilization mechanisms of the invasion front in two-dimensional drainage displacement in porous media by using a network simulator. We focus on the process when the front stabilizes due to the viscous forces in the liquids. We find that the capillary pressure difference between two different points along the front varies almost linearly as function of height separation in the direction of the displacement. The numerical results support arguments that differ from those suggested earlier for viscous stabilization. Our arguments are based upon the observation that nonwetting fluid flows in loopless strands (paths) and we conclude that earlier suggested theories are not suitable to drainage when nonwetting strands dominate the displacement process. We also show that the arguments might influence the scaling behavior between the front width and the injection rate and compare some of our results to experimental work.

physics.flu-dyn↗
arXiv2000

Viscous stabilization of 2D drainage displacements with trapping

We investigate the stabilization mechanisms due to viscous forces in the invasion front during drainage displacement in two-dimensional porous media using a network simulator. We find that in horizontal displacement the capillary pressure difference between two different points along the front varies almost linearly as function of height separation in the direction of the displacement. The numerical result supports arguments taking into account the loopless displacement pattern where nonwetting fluid flow in separate strands (paths). As a consequence, we show that existing theories developed for viscous stabilization, are not compatible with drainage when loopless strands dominate the displacement process.

physics.flu-dyn↗
arXiv1998

Simulating temporal evolution of pressure in two-phase flow in porous media

We have simulated the temporal evolution of pressure due to capillary and viscous forces in two-phase drainage in porous media. We analyze our result in light of macroscopic flow equations for two-phase flow. We also investigate the effect of the trapped clusters on the pressure evolution and on the effective permeability of the system. We find that the capillary forces play an important role during the displacements for both fast and slow injection rates and both when the invading fluid is more or less viscous than the defending fluid. The simulations are based on a network simulator modeling two-phase drainage displacements on a two-dimensional lattice of tubes.

physics.flu-dyn↗
arXiv1997

A two-dimensional network simulator for two-phase flow in porous media

We investigate a two-dimensional network simulator capable of modeling different time dependencies in two-phase drainage displacements. In particular, we focus on the temporal evolution of the pressure due to capillary and viscous forces and the time dependence of the interface between the two liquids. The dynamics of the capillary effect are taken into account and we report on high accuracy pressure measurements. Moreover, the simulator includes important features in drainage, like burst dynamics of the invading fluid and simultaneous flow of two liquids in a section of a tube. The validity of the model is checked by comparing simulation results with well known experimental properties in drainage displacement.

physics.flu-dyn↗