Effect of capillary number and viscosity ratio on multiphase displacement in microscale pores
Multiphase displacement is important in oil recovery, microfluidics, and CO${}_{2}$ capture. We study viscous oil trapping in microfluidic devices with sinusoidal pockets during water invasion. Varying capillary number (Ca), viscosity ratios, and pore geometries reveals that higher oil viscosity and water velocities increase oil trapping due to transition from meniscus displacement to viscous fingering. We find that trapping dynamics at high Ca are geometry independent. Our three-dimensional model based on the long-wave approximation predicts some experimental observations, such as increased oil retention at higher Ca and viscosity ratios, and the characteristic interfacial shape of trapped oil.
Authors
- Jessica L. Wilson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9510-1557)
- Samantha A. McBride (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6402-1359)
- Paul R. Kaneelil (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6337-7372)
- Mariko Storey-Matsutani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-6043-3253)
- Reese Knopp
- Andrew R. Konicek (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1164-7742)
- Mohammad Sadeq Saleh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9129-2808)
- A. E. Taylor (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8701-6712)
- Arben Jusufi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-9500-5052)
- Fernando Temprano-Coleto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2179-3148)
- M. S. Yeganeh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8848-6505)
- Howard A. Stone (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9670-0639)
Institutions
- Princeton University (US)
- Harvard University Press (US)
- ExxonMobil (United States) (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical Review Fluids
- Published
- 2025-05-05
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevfluids.10.054201
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Microfluidic and Capillary Electrophoresis Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.67
Funders
- Princeton University