Experimental study of 3D fingering of immiscible fluids in porous media

The efficiency and safety of subsurface energy storage and sequestration solutions heavily rely on the site conditions of the host reservoir rock, which if compromised, can lead to severe environmental hazards. This project focuses on the study of unstable fluid propagation within porous reservoir rock material, which is pivotal in the loss of sealing capacity of underground storages. In particular, we are interested in the fast bifurcation phenomenon known as fluid fingering that occurs when an invasive fluid percolates within a porous medium. To get an in-depth understanding that will potentially allow mitigating these instabilities, it is paramount to investigate fluid fingering in 4D (3D + time) within representative conditions. Preliminary results confirm that it is possible to reproduce and record the fingering phenomena. The future experiments at ESRF will allow for the first time worldwide quantitative characterization of rapid fingering development in geomaterials.