{"title":"Interaction between gas channels in water-saturated sands","authors":"Germán Varas, Gabriel Ramos, Valérie Vidal","doi":"10.1103/physreve.110.024901","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This work investigates the interaction between gas channels in a vertical Hele-Shaw cell when air is injected simultaneously from two points at a constant flow rate. Unlike single-injection experiments, this dual-point system induces the formation of numerous bubbles, thereby intensifying the interactions between air channels. We use an image analysis technique for tracking motion in the granular bed to define a <i>flow density</i> parameter throughout the cell. The vertical accumulation of this parameter (<math xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML\"><msub><mi>n</mi><mi>z</mi></msub></math>) reveals two specific heights, one marking a finger-to-fracture transition and another indicating the average interaction height of the air channels. Conversely, its horizontal accumulation (<math xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML\"><msub><mi>n</mi><mi>x</mi></msub></math>) assesses the extent of overlap in the fluidized zones created by each airflow. Notably, the analysis indicates that the optimum distribution of the three phases in the system is more closely related to the interaction's variability than its intensity. This finding is significant for industrial applications such as air sparging and catalytic reactors.","PeriodicalId":20085,"journal":{"name":"Physical review. E","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Physical review. E","FirstCategoryId":"101","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.110.024901","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"Mathematics","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This work investigates the interaction between gas channels in a vertical Hele-Shaw cell when air is injected simultaneously from two points at a constant flow rate. Unlike single-injection experiments, this dual-point system induces the formation of numerous bubbles, thereby intensifying the interactions between air channels. We use an image analysis technique for tracking motion in the granular bed to define a flow density parameter throughout the cell. The vertical accumulation of this parameter () reveals two specific heights, one marking a finger-to-fracture transition and another indicating the average interaction height of the air channels. Conversely, its horizontal accumulation () assesses the extent of overlap in the fluidized zones created by each airflow. Notably, the analysis indicates that the optimum distribution of the three phases in the system is more closely related to the interaction's variability than its intensity. This finding is significant for industrial applications such as air sparging and catalytic reactors.
期刊介绍:
Physical Review E (PRE), broad and interdisciplinary in scope, focuses on collective phenomena of many-body systems, with statistical physics and nonlinear dynamics as the central themes of the journal. Physical Review E publishes recent developments in biological and soft matter physics including granular materials, colloids, complex fluids, liquid crystals, and polymers. The journal covers fluid dynamics and plasma physics and includes sections on computational and interdisciplinary physics, for example, complex networks.