Theoretical Analyses Of Nonaqueous Phase Liquid Dissolution Induced Instability In Two Dimensional Fluid Saturated Porous Media

This monograph provides state-of-the-art theoretical and computational findings from investigations on physical and chemical dissolution front instability problems in porous media, based on the author’s own work. Although numerical results are provided to complement theoretical ones, the focus of this monograph is on the theoretical aspects of the topic and those presented in this book are applicable to a wide range of scientific and engineering problems involving the instability of nonlinear dynamic systems. To appeal to a wider readership, common mathematical notations are used to derive the theoretical solutions. The book can be used either as a useful textbook for postgraduate students or as a valuable reference book for computational scientists, mathematicians, engineers and geoscientists.

The transport and dissolution of residual non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPLS) trapped in water saturated porous media is a problem pertinent to both environmental and petrochemical industries. In this work we have quantitatively examined the complete dissolution of residual entrapped NAPL at the pore-scale in three dimensions using refractive index matching techniques along with planar laser induced fluorescence. The results yielded pore-scale information regarding ganglia volume, surface area, and position over time at various Capillary numbers. We found that with increasing Capillary numbers, the time for total dissolution decreased. In addition, it appears that large ganglia exhibit fractal area to volume scaling. We were also able to examine the distributions of the ganglia in the direction of flow over time. The use of low-frequency flow pulsations as a removal technique was also examined. A two dimensional micro model was used for these studies. We found that for this system, lower frequencies and higher amplitudes were more effective in NAPL removal due to breakup and mobilization. We also examined the effect of increasing amplitude and continuous versus pulsed stimulation. In addition, mass transport in the presence of a surfactant was also enhanced due to flow pulsation with lower frequencies and higher amplitudes again being most effective.