Particle deposition in porous media: Analysis of hydrodynamic and weak inertial effects

We have studied the transport and capture of non-Brownian particles in porous media, when the particles are mainly submitted to hydrodynamic and weak inertial effects. Visualization experiments have been performed using several models of porous media which consist of transparent etched networks of interconnected channels. Typical particle deposits have been observed at the corners of the grains of the porous medium. Their shape and their orientation were dependent on flow rate and on the anisotropy of the flow field. A trajectory analysis model has been applied to a porous medium made of a doubly periodic array of rectangular grains very close to the experimental model. This numerical model has been used to localize particle deposits and to determine particle capture efficiency on the grains over a range of low Stokes numbers, grain aspect ratios and flow-field anisotropy ratios. The results have been interpreted in terms of shape of particle deposits and compared successfully to experimental observations.