Characteristics of acoustic emissions from fluid front displacement in porous media

Fluid displacement in porous media is of interest for environmental, petroleum and chemical engineering. Percolation theory and pore-scale models are useful in describing filling and emptying of pores and throats but fail to capture characteristics of the fast interfacial jumps and reconfigurations occurring during fluid displacement processes such as imbibitions and drainage. Energy release caused by these rapid events generates acoustic waves which propagate through the porous medium and can be detected at its surface using acoustic emission (AE) sensors. Through a series of experiment displacing various fluids through Hele-Shaw cells filled with glass beads of different sizes we investigate correlation between acoustic emission signals, fluid and pore space properties, and energy dissipation. Acoustic emission signals were quantified by considering number of hits (events) and amplitudes. The exponent of power law relating these characteristic values varied with the displacement process and pore size. The number of AE events and amplitudes dropped with decreasing liquid surface tension for displacement within the same porous medium (water, ethanol, silicon oil). Similar trends were observed with increasing liquid viscosity, only a few hits are recorded for silicon oil with 10 mPas. The results are interpreted considering air or liquid entry pressures into the pore spaces, with increasing pressure entries for small pores and liquid with higher surface tension. The viscosity plays an important role in restraining AE-producing jump events and dumping interfacial oscillations as could be shown theoretically for simple capillaries. The study establishes direct relationships between measured AE fluid and pore properties and offer potential for quantifying energy dissipation during fluid displacement in porous media as well as other transient flow characteristics using non invasive AE signals.