Capillary Fracturing in Granular Media
We study the displacement of immiscible fluids in deformable, noncohesive granular media. Experimentally, we inject air into a thin bed of water-saturated glass beads and observe the invasion morphology. The control parameters are the injection rate, the bead size, and the confining stress. We ident...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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American Physical Society
2012
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/73510 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7370-2332 |
| _version_ | 1826217718084272128 |
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| author | Holtzman, Ran Juanes, Ruben Szulczewski, Michael Lawrence |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Holtzman, Ran Juanes, Ruben Szulczewski, Michael Lawrence |
| author_sort | Holtzman, Ran |
| collection | MIT |
| description | We study the displacement of immiscible fluids in deformable, noncohesive granular media. Experimentally, we inject air into a thin bed of water-saturated glass beads and observe the invasion morphology. The control parameters are the injection rate, the bead size, and the confining stress. We identify three invasion regimes: capillary fingering, viscous fingering, and “capillary fracturing,” where capillary forces overcome frictional resistance and induce the opening of conduits. We derive two dimensionless numbers that govern the transition among the different regimes: a modified capillary number and a fracturing number. The experiments and analysis predict the emergence of fracturing in fine-grained media under low confining stress, a phenomenon that likely plays a fundamental role in many natural processes such as primary oil migration, methane venting from lake sediments, and the formation of desiccation cracks. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T17:08:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/73510 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T17:08:04Z |
| publishDate | 2012 |
| publisher | American Physical Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/735102022-09-29T23:51:36Z Capillary Fracturing in Granular Media Holtzman, Ran Juanes, Ruben Szulczewski, Michael Lawrence Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Juanes, Ruben Holtzman, Ran Juanes, Ruben Szulczewski, Michael Lawrence We study the displacement of immiscible fluids in deformable, noncohesive granular media. Experimentally, we inject air into a thin bed of water-saturated glass beads and observe the invasion morphology. The control parameters are the injection rate, the bead size, and the confining stress. We identify three invasion regimes: capillary fingering, viscous fingering, and “capillary fracturing,” where capillary forces overcome frictional resistance and induce the opening of conduits. We derive two dimensionless numbers that govern the transition among the different regimes: a modified capillary number and a fracturing number. The experiments and analysis predict the emergence of fracturing in fine-grained media under low confining stress, a phenomenon that likely plays a fundamental role in many natural processes such as primary oil migration, methane venting from lake sediments, and the formation of desiccation cracks. Eni S.p.A. (Firm) 2012-10-01T16:28:23Z 2012-10-01T16:28:23Z 2012-06 2012-02 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0031-9007 1079-7114 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/73510 Holtzman, Ran, Michael Szulczewski, and Ruben Juanes. “Capillary Fracturing in Granular Media.” Physical Review Letters 108.26 (2012): 264504. © 2012 American Physical Society. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7370-2332 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.264504 Physical Review Letters Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Physical Society APS |
| spellingShingle | Holtzman, Ran Juanes, Ruben Szulczewski, Michael Lawrence Capillary Fracturing in Granular Media |
| title | Capillary Fracturing in Granular Media |
| title_full | Capillary Fracturing in Granular Media |
| title_fullStr | Capillary Fracturing in Granular Media |
| title_full_unstemmed | Capillary Fracturing in Granular Media |
| title_short | Capillary Fracturing in Granular Media |
| title_sort | capillary fracturing in granular media |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/73510 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7370-2332 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT holtzmanran capillaryfracturingingranularmedia AT juanesruben capillaryfracturingingranularmedia AT szulczewskimichaellawrence capillaryfracturingingranularmedia |