dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaVelocity contrasts enhancement for shear thinning solutions flowing in a rough fracture
| Authors | Harold Auradou, Alejandro Boschan, Ricardo Chertcoff, Susana Gabbanelli, Jean-Pierre Hulin, Irene Ippolito |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0703029 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0703029 |
Abstract
Flow and transport are studied in transparent model fractures with rough complementary self-affine walls with a relative shear displacement $\vec{u}$. The aperture field is shown to display long range correlations perpendicular to $\vec{u}$: for flow in that direction, the width and geometry of the front of a dyed shear-thinning polymer solution displacing a transparent one have been studied as a function of the fluid rheology and flow rate. The front width increases linearly with distance indicating a convection of the fluids with a low transverse mixing between the flow paths. The width also increases with the flow-rate as the fluid rheology shifts from Newtonian at low shear rates $\dot \gamma$ towards a shear thinning behaviour at higher $\dot \gamma$ values. The width also increases with the polymer concentration at high flow-rates. These results demonstrate the enhancement of the flow velocity contrasts between different flow channels for shear thinning fluids. The relative widths at low and high $\dot \gamma$ values for different polymer concentrations are well predicted by an analytical model considering the fracture as a set of parallel ducts of constant hydraulic apertures. The overall geometry of the experimental front geometry is also predicted by the theoretical model from the aperture map.
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"abstract": "Flow and transport are studied in transparent model fractures with rough\ncomplementary self-affine walls with a relative shear displacement $\\vec{u}$.\nThe aperture field is shown to display long range correlations perpendicular to\n$\\vec{u}$: for flow in that direction, the width and geometry of the front of a\ndyed shear-thinning polymer solution displacing a transparent one have been\nstudied as a function of the fluid rheology and flow rate. The front width\nincreases linearly with distance indicating a convection of the fluids with a\nlow transverse mixing between the flow paths. The width also increases with the\nflow-rate as the fluid rheology shifts from Newtonian at low shear rates $\\dot\n\\gamma$ towards a shear thinning behaviour at higher $\\dot \\gamma$ values. The\nwidth also increases with the polymer concentration at high flow-rates. These\nresults demonstrate the enhancement of the flow velocity contrasts between\ndifferent flow channels for shear thinning fluids. The relative widths at low\nand high $\\dot \\gamma$ values for different polymer concentrations are well\npredicted by an analytical model considering the fracture as a set of parallel\nducts of constant hydraulic apertures. The overall geometry of the experimental\nfront geometry is also predicted by the theoretical model from the aperture\nmap.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0703029",
"authors": [
"Harold Auradou",
"Alejandro Boschan",
"Ricardo Chertcoff",
"Susana Gabbanelli",
"Jean-Pierre Hulin",
"Irene Ippolito"
],
"categories": [
"physics.flu-dyn"
],
"title": "Velocity contrasts enhancement for shear thinning solutions flowing in a rough fracture",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0703029"
},
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