Output details
15 - General Engineering
Heriot-Watt University (joint submission with University of Edinburgh)
Universal scaling of spontaneous imbibition for water-wet systems
We solved a 90-year old problem pertinent to earth sciences, biology, food processing, and chemical engineering by deriving the first universal scaling law for spontaneous imbibition. In contrast to the over 70 empirical scaling laws published previously, our approach is based on an analytical solution and hence exact for any fluid-rock system. The paper was a featured article in Water Resources Research (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/%28ISSN%291944-7973/homepage/featured_articles.htm) because of its importance to the field of earth science and beyond. The work has since been extended for diverse applications in Canada (doi:10.1021/ef4002814), Iran (DOI:10.1021/ef400990p), China (DOI:10.1142/S0129183112500544) and USA (DOI:10.1016/j.petrol.2013.08.018).