Flows in porous media is a research area focused on the theoretical, computational, and experimental characterization of fluid motion through heterogeneous porous structures, governed primarily by Darcy’s law and its extensions to multiphase, non-Newtonian, and reactive systems. It integrates continuum mechanics, transport theory, and pore-scale physics to describe pressure-driven and capillarity-driven flows, dispersion, and phase interactions in materials such as soils, rocks, biological tissues, and engineered porous media. Core topics include upscaling from pore to continuum scales, effective permeability and porosity, coupling with heat and mass transport, and numerical simulation for applications in hydrogeology, petroleum engineering, carbon sequestration, and environmental remediation.
Industry has long relied upon energy-intensive processes, such as distillation and crystallization, to separate molecules that ultimately serve as ingredients in medicine, chemicals and other products.
Nanomaterials
Sep 30, 2023
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380
Separation processes are essential in the purification and concentration of a target molecule during water purification, removal of pollutants, and heat pumping, accounting for 10–15% of global energy consumption. To make ...
Nanomaterials
Jul 27, 2023
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There is an entire aqueous universe hidden within the tiny pores of many natural and engineered materials. Research from the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis has shown that when such materials ...
Nanomaterials
Aug 25, 2022
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140
Millions of barrels of oil are produced daily from shale reservoirs, yet a significant amount remains untouched, trapped in molecular-sized pores on a nanoscale. Current reservoir models can't predict oil behavior or recovery ...
Nanophysics
Aug 11, 2022
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196
Do more pores in a sieve allow more liquid to flow through it? As material scientists have uncovered, this seemingly simple question may have an unexpected answer at the nanoscale—and it could have important implications ...
Nanomaterials
Aug 5, 2022
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