Hydrodynamics in two-phase flow within porous media

Ultra-fast magnetic resonance imaging techniques are used to image liquid distribution in two and three dimensions during air–water co-current down flow through a fixed bed of cylindrical porous pellets of length and diameter 3 mm, packed within a 43 mm internal diameter column in both the trickle- and pulsing-flow regimes. The data acquisition times used were 20 and 280 ms, giving 2-D and 3-D spatial resolutions of 1.4 mm×2.8 mm and 3.75 mm×3.75 mm×1.87 mm, respectively. This work reports images of local pulsing events within the bed occurring during the trickle-to-pulse flow transition. The evolution of the local instabilities is studied as a function of increasing liquid velocity at constant gas velocity.