Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol.33, No.8, 1997-2001, 1994
Application of a UV-Curing Resin to Hydrodynamic Studies in Porous-Media
Laboratory techniques which have been applied to visualization of flow and transport in porous media include light transmission, matched index of refraction methods, NMR techniques, and use of epoxies. Within the present study, a commercially available UV-curing resin is applied to capturing transport behavior in porous media. This technique provides several capabilities including rapid solidification of soil structure/fluid distribution at preselected locations without stopping flow and the ability to cure the structure of fluid interfaces. The resin cures rapidly, exhibits minimal change in volume during curing, and does not show substantial local flow alteration during curing (despite relatively large increases in temperature during the curing process). This resin holds promise to enhance our ability to study flow and transport through porous media, including the study of particle transport, hydrodynamic dispersion, fluid distributions in multiphase flow, and fingering during infiltration.
Keywords:SCALE-DEPENDENT DISPERSIVITY;NONAQUEOUS-PHASE LIQUIDS;FRACTAL GEOMETRY;AQUIFERS;DISTRIBUTIONS;EXPLANATION