Burst Dynamics, Upscaling and Dissipation of Slow Drainage in Porous Media

We present a theoretical and experimental investigation of drainage in porous media. The study is limited to stabilized fluid fronts at moderate injection rates, but it takes into account capillary, viscous, gravitational forces. In the framework presented, work applied on system, energy dissipation, final saturation width front can all be calculated if we know dimensionless fluctuation number, wetting properties, surface tension between fluids, fractal dimensions invading structure its boundary, exponent describing divergence correlation length percolation. Furthermore, our description explains how Haines jumps’ local activity dissipation relate larger scales.