Anomalous transport of colloids in heterogeneous porous media: A multi-scale statistical theory.
J Colloid Interface Sci
; 617: 94-105, 2022 Jul.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-35272170
ABSTRACT
HYPOTHESIS:
Transport of suspended colloids in heterogeneous porous media is a multi-scale process that exhibits anomalous behavior and cannot be described by the Fickian dispersion theory. Although many studies have documented colloids' transport at different length scales, a theoretical basis that links pore- to core-scale observations remains lacking. It is hypothesized that a recently proposed pore-scale statistical kinetic theory is able to capture the results observed experimentally. EXPERIMENTS We implement a multi-scale approach via conducting core-flooding experiments of colloidal particles in a sandstone sample, simulating particles flowing through a sub-volume of the rock's digital twin, and developing a core-scale statistical theory for particles' residence times via upscaling the pore-scale kinetic theory. Experimental and computational results for solute transport are used as benchmark.FINDINGS:
Based on good agreement across the scales achieved in our investigation, we show that the macroscopically observed anomalous transport is particle-type dependent and stems from particles' microscopic dispersion and deposition in heterogeneous flow fields. In particular, we reveal that residence-time distributions (i.e., breakthrough curve) obey a closed-form function that encompasses particles' microscopic dynamics, which allows investigations of a whole transition from pre-asymptotic to asymptotic behavior. The physical insights attained could be useful for interpreting experimental data and designing colloidal tracers.
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Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
J Colloid Interface Sci
Año:
2022
Tipo del documento:
Article