APPLICATION OF A UV-CURING RESIN TO HYDRODYNAMIC STUDIES IN POROUS-MEDIA

Laboratory techniques which have been applied to visualization of flow and transport in porous media include light transmission, matched ind ex of refraction methods, NMR techniques, and use of epoxies. Within t he present study, a commercially available UV-curing resin is applied to capturing transport behavior in porous media. This technique provid es several capabilities including rapid solidification of soil structu re/fluid distribution at preselected locations without stopping flow a nd the ability to cure the structure of fluid interfaces. The resin cu res rapidly, exhibits minimal change in volume during curing, and does not show substantial local flow alteration during curing (despite rel atively large increases in temperature during the curing process). Thi s resin holds promise to enhance our ability to study flow and transpo rt through porous media, including the study of particle transport, hy drodynamic dispersion, fluid distributions in multiphase flow, and fin gering during infiltration.