Resumo

LUVIANO-ORTIZ, J. Luis; RAMOS, Eduardo; HERNANDEZ-GUERRERO, Abel  e  HERNANDEZ-CRUZ, Guillermo. Two-Phase Flow through the Drainage of a Porous Hele-Shaw Cell. Ingenier. mecáni. tecnolog. desarroll [online]. 2012, vol.4, n.2, pp.61-71. ISSN 1665-7381.

This work presents an experimental study of liquid-air flow inside a 19 cm × 41 cm × 1 mm rectangular Hele-Shaw cell, saturated with 1 mm diameter spherical glass beads. The flow is characterized by using light refraction at the liquid-gas interface menisci as a marker to determine the time-dependent position of the liquid-gas interface. in the experiment liquid motion is generated by partially filling the cell with water and then letting the water out through an outlet in the lower part of the cell. It has been observed that, in contrast to what occurs in a Hele-Shaw cell with no spheres, the liquid-gas interface is an irregular line that moves with localized sudden motions generated by surface tension effects occurring due to the non-regular arrangements of the spheres. These observations are potentially useful in the petroleum extraction and underground water flows.

Palavras-chave : Drainage; Hele-Shaw cell; glass beads; water retention; forced gravity drainage.