Fundamental Studies of Fluid Mechanics: Stability in Porous Media

摘要

This work has been concerned with theoretical, computational and experimental studies of a variety of flow and transport problems that are of generic interest and applicability in energy-related and energy-intensive processes. These include the following. (1) Problems associated with oil recovery: the global economy continues to be dependent on the stable and predictable supply of oil and fossil fuels. This will remain the case for the near term, as current estimates are that world production of oil will peak between 2025 and 2100, depending on assumptions regarding growth. Most of these resources reside in porous rocks and other naturally occurring media. Studies of flow-induced instabilities are relevant to the areas of secondary and enhanced oil recovery. (2) Small scale and Stokes flows: flows in microgeometries and involving interfaces and surfactants are of interest in a myriad of energy-related contexts. These include: pore-level modeling of the fundamental processes by which oil held in porous materials is mobilized and produced; heating and cooling energy cycles involving significant expenditure of energy in conditioning of human environments, heat pipes, and compact heat exchangers; and energy efficiency in large scale separation processes such as distillation and absorption-processes that underlie the chemical process industries. (3) Coating flows: these are of interest in information technologies, including the manufacture of integrated circuits and data storage and retrieval devices. It is estimated that 50-70% of the starting raw materials and intermediate devices in information technology processes must be discarded as a result of imperfections and failure to meet specifications. These in turn are often the result of the inability to control fluid-mechanical processes and flow instabilities. Our work over the grant period is primarily fundamental in nature. We are interested in establishing general principles and behaviors that relate to a variety of processes in a variety of contexts. Our work has focused and will continue to focus on fluid mechanical phenomena that are of interest in energy-related technologies, with an emphasis on interfacial flows.