@article {:/content/aip/journal/pof2/26/6/10.1063/1.4884955,
	title = {Fluid breakup during simultaneous two-phase flow through a three-dimensional porous medium},
	journal = {Physics of Fluids},
	volume = {26},
	number = {6},
	year = {2014},
	pages = {062004},
	abstract = {
	We use\&nbsp;confocal microscopy\&nbsp;to directly visualize the simultaneous\&nbsp;flow\&nbsp;of both a\&nbsp;wetting\&nbsp;and a non-wetting fluid through a model\&nbsp;three-dimensional\&nbsp;(3D)\&nbsp;porous medium. We find that, for small\&nbsp;flow\&nbsp;rates, both fluids\&nbsp;flow\&nbsp;through unchanging, distinct, connected\&nbsp;3D\&nbsp;pathways; in stark contrast, at sufficiently large\&nbsp;flow\&nbsp;rates, the non-wetting fluid is broken up into discrete ganglia. By performing experiments over a range of\&nbsp;flow\&nbsp;rates, using fluids of different\&nbsp;viscosities,\&nbsp;and with porous media having different geometries, we show that this transition can be characterized by a state diagram that depends on the capillary numbers of both fluids, suggesting that it is controlled by the competition between the\&nbsp;viscous\&nbsp;forces exerted on the flowing oil and the capillary forces at the pore scale. Our results thus help elucidate the diverse range of behaviors that arise in two-phase\&nbsp;flow\&nbsp;through a\&nbsp;3D\&nbsp;porous medium.

},
	doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4884955},
	url = {http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/pof2/26/6/10.1063/1.4884955},
	author = {Datta, Sujit S. and Dupin, Jean-Baptiste and Weitz, David A}
}
