Direct experimental observations of the impact of viscosity contrast on convective mixing in a three-dimensional porous medium

Analog fluids have been widely used to mimic the convective mixing of carbon dioxide into brine in the study of geological carbon storage. Although these fluid systems had many characteristics of the real system, the viscosity contrast between the resident fluid and the invading front was significantly different and largely overlooked. We used x-ray computed tomography to image convective mixing in a three-dimensional porous medium formed of glass beads and compared two invading fluids that had a viscosity 3.5x and 16x that of the resident fluid. The macroscopic behavior such as the dissolution rate and onset time scaled well with the viscosity contrast. However, with a more viscous invading fluid, fundamentally different plume structures and final mixing state were observed due in large part to greater dispersion.