A comparison of experimental and simulated propagators in porous media using confocal laser scanning microscopy, lattice Boltzmann hydrodynamic simulations and nuclear magnetic resonance.

Confocal laser scanning microscopy has been used to obtain 3D optical image stacks of packings of glass ballotini in various fluorescent dye-containing fluids inside a 3D micromodel. The fluids' refractive index was matched to that of the glass ballotini so that clear images at an appreciable depth (approximately 400 microm) inside the packings were obtained. The lattice Boltzmann method was then used to produce 3D velocity fields through the 3D image stacks of the packed ballotini. These have been used in conjunction with a stochastic random-walk algorithm to produce simulated displacement propagators, which have been shown to be in qualitative agreement with experimental propagators, obtained using nuclear magnetic resonance, of water flowing through the exact same micromodel.