Influence of the elastic deformation of a foam on its mobility in channels of linearly varying width

Benjamin Dollet (1) , Sian A. Jones (2) , Yves Méheust (3) , Isabelle Cantat (1)

1 Granulaires - Mousses
2 IPR - Institut de Physique de Rennes
3 Transferts d'eau et de matière dans les milieux hétérogènes complexes

We study foam flow in an elementary model porous medium consisting of a convergent and a divergent channel positioned side by side and possessing a fixed joint porosity. Configurations of converging or diverging channels are ubiquitous at the pore scale in porous media, as all channels linking pores possess a converging and diverging part. The resulting flow kinematics imposes asymmetric bubble deformations in the two channels, which modulate foam-wall friction and strongly impact the flux distribution. We measure, as well as quantitatively predict, the ratio of the fluxes in the two channels as a function of the channel widths by modeling pressure drops of both viscous and capillary origins. This study reveals the crucial importance of boundary-induced bubble deformation on the mobility of a flowing foam, resulting in particular in flow irreversibility

Domains: Earth Sciences

Benjamin Dollet, Sian A. Jones, Yves Méheust, Isabelle Cantat. Influence of the elastic deformation of a foam on its mobility in channels of linearly varying width. Physical Review E : Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics, 2014, 90 (2), pp.art. n°023006. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevE.90.023006⟩. ⟨insu-01068121⟩