Multiphase flow in porous media

Abstract

AbstractMultiphase flows in porous media represent fluid dynamics problems of great complexity involving a wide range of physical phenomena. These flows have attracted the attention of an impressive group of renowned researchers and have spawned a number of classic problems in fluid dynamics. These multiphase flows are perhaps best known for their importance in oil recovery from petroleum reservoirs, but they also find application in novel areas such as hydrofracturing for natural gas recovery. In a recent article, Zinchenko & Davis (J. Fluid Mech. 2013, vol. 725, pp. 611–663) present computational simulations that break new ground in the study of emulsions flowing through porous media. These simulations provide sufficient scale to capture the disordered motion and complex break-up patterns of individual droplets while providing sufficient statistical samples for estimating meaningful macroscopic properties of technical interest.