Mapping the local viscosity of non-Newtonian fluids flowing through disordered porous structures

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Date
2020-07-16Type
- Journal Article
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Abstract
Flow of non-Newtonian fluids through topologically complex structures is ubiquitous in most biological, industrial and environmental settings. The interplay between local hydrodynamics and the fluid’s constitutive law determines the distribution of flow paths. Consequently the spatial heterogeneity of the viscous resistance controls mass and solute transport from the micron to the meter scale. Examples range from oil recovery and groundwater engineering to drug delivery, filters and catalysts. Here we present a new methodology to map the spatial variation of the local viscosity of a non-Newtonian fluid flowing through a complex pore geometry. We use high resolution image velocimetry to determine local shear rates. Knowing the local shear rate in combination with a separate measurement of the fluid’s constitutive law allows to quantitatively map the local viscosity at the pore scale. Our experimental results—which closely match with three-dimensional numerical simulations—demonstrate that the exponential decay of the longitudinal velocity distributions, previously observed for Newtonian fluids, is a function of the spatial heterogeneity of the local viscosity. This work sheds light on the relationship between hydraulic properties and the viscosity at the pore scale, which is of fundamental importance for predicting transport properties, mixing, and chemical reactions in many porous systems. Show more
Permanent link
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000428498Publication status
publishedExternal links
Journal / series
Scientific ReportsVolume
Pages / Article No.
Publisher
Nature Publishing GroupOrganisational unit
03798 - Kirchner, James W. / Kirchner, James W.
Funding
179834 - The role of ambient flow and physico-chemical microenvironment in determining the microstructure of the biofilm matrix (SNF)
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Show all metadata
Citations
Cited 10 times in
Web of Science
Cited 10 times in
Scopus
ETH Bibliography
yes
Altmetrics