Comparison of Flow and Transport Experiments on 3D Printed Micromodels with Direct Numerical Simulations

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2018-08-25
Authors
Watson, Francesca
Maes, Julien
Geiger, Sebastian
Mackay, Eric
Singleton, Mike
McGravie, Thomas
Anouilh, Terry
Jobe, T. Dawn
Zhang, Shuo
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Hasiuk, Franciszek
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Geological and Atmospheric Sciences

The Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences offers majors in three areas: Geology (traditional, environmental, or hydrogeology, for work as a surveyor or in mineral exploration), Meteorology (studies in global atmosphere, weather technology, and modeling for work as a meteorologist), and Earth Sciences (interdisciplinary mixture of geology, meteorology, and other natural sciences, with option of teacher-licensure).

History
The Department of Geology and Mining was founded in 1898. In 1902 its name changed to the Department of Geology. In 1965 its name changed to the Department of Earth Science. In 1977 its name changed to the Department of Earth Sciences. In 1989 its name changed to the Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences.

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1898-present

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  • Department of Geology and Mining (1898-1902)
  • Department of Geology (1902-1965)
  • Department of Earth Science (1965-1977)
  • Department of Earth Sciences (1977-1989)

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Geological and Atmospheric Sciences
Abstract

Understanding pore-scale flow and transport processes is important for understanding flow and transport within rocks on a larger scale. Flow experiments on small-scale micromodels can be used to experimentally investigate pore-scale flow. Current manufacturing methods of micromodels are costly and time consuming. 3D printing is an alternative method for the production of micromodels. We have been able to visualise small-scale, single-phase flow and transport processes within a 3D printed micromodel using a custom-built visualisation cell. Results have been compared with the same experiments run on a micromodel with the same geometry made from polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA, also known as Perspex). Numerical simulations of the experiments indicate that differences in experimental results between the 3D printed micromodel and the Perspex micromodel may be due to variability in print geometry and surface properties between the samples. 3D printing technology looks promising as a micromodel manufacturing method; however, further work is needed to improve the accuracy and quality of 3D printed models in terms of geometry and surface roughness.

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This article is published as Watson, Francesca, Julien Maes, Sebastian Geiger, Eric Mackay, Mike Singleton, Thomas McGravie, Terry Anouilh et al. "Comparison of Flow and Transport Experiments on 3D Printed Micromodels with Direct Numerical Simulations." Transport in Porous Media (2018). doi: 10.1007/s11242-018-1136-9.

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Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 UTC 2018
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