The persistent mystery of why polymer solutions slow down as they travel in porous media has been solved.
According to new research, these solutions develop elastic instability as they wind their way through constricted spaces, a condition which leads to chaotic, turbulent flow. This chaotic flow causes the viscosity of the fluid to increase.
Polymer solutions are used in industrial applications such as oil recovery and groundwater remediation. Understanding the fundamental mechanism of how polymer solutions move through porous materials could help control these processes better, says study coauthor Christopher Browne, a doctoral candidate in chemical engineering at Princeton Univ. The findings may have implications in other applications, as well. “There are a lot of industrial processes that involve flow through tortuous three-dimensional space — chromatography, extrusion 3D printing — and you often have polymers in those settings,” Browne says. “Given that this instability can arise in these geometries and create this kind of chaotic, turbulent-like flow, it’s certainly something that needs to be understood.”
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