International Conference on
Preferential and Unstable Flow in Porous Media – From Water Infiltration to Gas Injection
Invitation
Conference dates: Sunday, 29 March to Friday, 3 April 2009
Place:
Monte Verità, Ascona, Switzerland
Scope
Patterns of preferential fluid flow are common in soils, sediments, fissured rocks and other permeable media. Preferential flow enhances risks of contaminant transport to groundwater resources. Irregular fronts of fluid displacement associated with preferential flows present a challenge to prediction of macroscopic transport properties necessary for water and land management. These irregular phenomena are not limited to near-surface hydrologic flows of water and air, but are also manifested in other porous media activities such as air sparging for remediation, DNAPL plume migration in the subsurface, gas (CO2) and liquid injection into oil reservoirs to enhance recovery or storage. These phenomena are not well described by standard flow theories that are based on principles of continuum and averaging, and novel approaches are required. This conference aims at advances in characterizing and modeling preferential and unstable multiphase flow and transport phenomena in porous media. It provides a platform for interactions among hydrologists, geologists, physicists, chemical, environmental and petroleum engineers with common interest in the progress of understanding of these challenging and environmentally critical transport phenomena.
Features
Fundamentals of and approaches to preferential and unstable flow; relevant geometry of pores and fissures; water repellency/wettability; relationships with Darcy-Richards type flow; transport of colloids, bio-particles, DNAPL, and solutes; technical enhancement of flow and transport through surfactance and gas injection; evaporation; up-scaling and other applications of preferential and unstable flow to the hydrology of vadose zones, hillslopes and catchments.
Organizers
Profs. Peter Germann, University of Bern, Dani Or, ETH Zürich
For more information contact info@pufinpom09.ch.
Links
www.geography.unibe.ch - Soil Science Section
www.monteverita.org - Centre Monte Verità
www.csf.ethz.ch - Centro Stefano Franscini, the international conference centre of ETH Zurich
www.snf.ch - Swiss National Science Foundation
Last Update: 04.05.2009