CHORUS · How does Chaos drive Transport Dynamics in Porous Media ?

Fluid flow in porous media plays a central role in a large spectrum of geological, biological and industrial systems. Recent advances have shown that microscale chemical gradients are sustained by pore-scale chaotic flow dynamics. This fundamentally challenges the current macrodispersion paradigm that assumes that porous transport processes occurs under well-mixed microscale conditions. Using novel experimental, numerical and theoretical approaches, CHORUS will explore the origin, diversity and consequences of chaotic mixing in porous and fractured media. For this, the team will develop a new generation of imaging techniques coupling laser induced fluorescence, refractive index matching and additive manufacturing of complex and realistic porous and fractured architectures (WP1 and WP2). The CHORUS team will use these insights to develop new modelling concepts for describing scalar mixing and dispersion in microscale (WP3) and multiscale (WP4) systems. Building on these experimental, numerical and theoretical breakthroughs, CHORUS will design “smart” porous flows with porous architectures that selectively optimize mixing, dispersive or reactive properties (WP5). CHORUS will thus develop a new paradigm for transport dynamics in porous and fractured media, with far-reaching applications for the understanding, modelling and control of a range of natural and industrial processes, including contaminant transport and biogeochemical reactions in the subsurface, CO2 sequestration, membrane-less flow batteries, flow chemistry, chromatography or catalysis.