MRI as a probe of the deposition of solid fines in a porous medium

MRI volume imaging and flow visualizations are used to investigate solid fine-particle deposition during flow within a random packing of glass spheres. This process is of importance in many fields including filtration, operation of chemical reactors and oil recovery. Visualizations before and during deposition allow us to investigate how the structure of the inter-particle space and the properties of the fines influence the evolution of the structure and hydrodynamics characterizing the porous medium during deposition.