Real-time 3D imaging of interfacial dynamics in porous media two-phase flow

Multiphase flow in porous media is a scientific topic of huge environmental importance, and recent advances in X-ray sources and detectors have made it feasible to study this field experimentally. Many liquid-liquid fluctuations take place on a time scale of seconds, with the pore-level Haines jumps occurring within milliseconds. It is consequently difficult to follow these processes with time-resolved 3D microscopy. Due to the short time scales, 3D imaging of these pore-scale phenomena has hitherto been limited to snapshots before and after the process has taken place. We thus propose original measurement strategies for i) real-time 3D imaging of steady-state multiphase flow fluctuations, and ii) reversible Haines jumps. We expect that these efforts will improve our understanding of the fundamental dynamics of multiphase flow, specifically testing recently published theoretical models for multiphase flow.