Resuspension bursts in particle-laden flows through porous media

Filippo Bianchi, Marcel Thielmann, Hans J. Herrmann

Published 2017-06-07Version 1

We study particle-laden flows during deep bed filtration and show that in a specific range of fluid solid fractions the time evolution of pressure loss through the filter is characterized by distinct pressure jumps. These jumps stem from particle detachment events inside the porous medium and are preceded and followed by phases dominated by deposition. A statistical analysis shows that the events are independent of each other and their size distribution scales with a power law. The detection of these jumps is important to advance the understanding of particle-laden flows, which play an important role in a variety of fields, ranging from environmental sciences to industrial filters and petroleum recovery. Particularly, jumps are related to sand production in oil wells.