Soft Matter and Complex Systems Seminar
sala 1.40, ul. Pasteura 5
2025-11-07 (09:30) 
Tomasz Szawełło (IFT UW)
Diffusive transport in network models of dissolution in porous media
Dissolution in porous media emerges from the interplay of fluid flow, reactant transport, chemical reactions, and evolving structure. Reactant transport combines advection and diffusion: advection promotes channeling instabilities, whereas diffusion stabilizes fronts. Pore network models provide an efficient framework to simulate dissolution, but often assume advection-dominated axial transport in pores—an assumption frequently violated in natural and industrial systems such as groundwater flows or catalytic reactors.
In this seminar I first motivate the need to include axial diffusion in pore network models and derive the classical Graetz solution for advection–reaction in a cylindrical pore with reactive walls. I next show how retaining axial diffusion modifies the solution structure, inducing additional dependence on Damköhler and Péclet numbers. Building on this, I present a solution to the 1D advection–diffusion–reaction problem for pores in the network that incorporates axial diffusion. Finally, I map dissolution outcomes on Damköhler–Péclet phase diagrams, highlighting transitions in morphology and comparing them with laboratory benchmarks.
In this seminar I first motivate the need to include axial diffusion in pore network models and derive the classical Graetz solution for advection–reaction in a cylindrical pore with reactive walls. I next show how retaining axial diffusion modifies the solution structure, inducing additional dependence on Damköhler and Péclet numbers. Building on this, I present a solution to the 1D advection–diffusion–reaction problem for pores in the network that incorporates axial diffusion. Finally, I map dissolution outcomes on Damköhler–Péclet phase diagrams, highlighting transitions in morphology and comparing them with laboratory benchmarks.