Real time 3D imaging of interfacial fluctuation-dynamics during imbibition into porous media.

Imbibition of wetting liquids into porous media is a topic of great scientific interest due to its geological, environmental, biological, and daily life importance. Recent developments in X-ray techniques enable in situ imaging imbibition in 4D (3D + time). During imbibition, many rapid events take place at the interfaces between fluids and the solid matrix. Pore filling events happen rapidly in milliseconds, posing a challenge for real-time 3D monitoring. Consequently, 3D imaging has been mostly restricted to equilibrium states before and after the process. We propose to study a) forced and b) spontaneous imbibition of wetting phase fluid into porous media using our recently proposed stroboscopic method for non-destructive real-time 3D imaging of fast pore-scale events. These studies are scientifically valuable as they enable real time monitoring of fundamental imbibition dynamics at their native temporal and spatial scales, allowing proposed theoretical models to be challenged.