Lectures > Lecture 7

Lecture 7 by Tom Bultreys, Centre for X-ray Tomography at Ghent University, Belgium.

Title: Fluid flow in porous media: from pore-scale modelling to dynamic imaging.

Flows through porous materials are ubiquitous in nature and engineering. The pores of rocks and sediments in the subsurface hold groundwater reserves and can store renewable energy as hydrogen gas. Similarly, captured greenhouse gasses can be stored in them to abate emissions. Other applications of flows in porous media include fuel cells and reactors, which depend on the supply of reagents to porous catalysts or electrodes. In all of these cases, it is crucial to predict how fluids flow through the porous medium.

Over the past years, micro-CT has become an indispensable tool to study fluid flows in porous media, thanks to its ability to visualize micrometer-scale pore structures - and what goes on in them- in a wide variety of materials. First, pore-scale models were developed that take micro-CT images of the pore space as input and simulate complex flows through them. Later, dynamic micro-CT observations became available, enabling the experimental. investigation of these flows and pore-by-pore validation of the models.

In this course, we will give an overview of the advances that have been made in the study of fluid flows in porous media with micro-CT imaging. We will introduce the basic concepts of pore-scale modelling and of dynamic micro-CT imaging, including practical tips of how to use this in your own research. Finally, we will discuss how dynamic imaging and modelling can be combined to leverage the best of both worlds.

Biography: Tom Bultreys is an associate professor at Ghent University, Belgium. He investigates fluid flows in porous rocks during underground hydrogen and carbon dioxide storage and sustainable groundwater applications, developing new methods to image and model the pore-scale physics. Before joining Ghent University’s Centre for X-ray Tomography  (UGCT) and Department of Geology, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Imperial College London. His work resulted in Interpore’s Porelab Award for Young Researchers 2019 and a Starting Grant of the European Research Council (ERC) in 2023.