Coupled dissolution and diffusive interactions of microbubbles in irregular pore networks
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Joewondo, Nerine
Garbin, Valeria
Pini, Ronny
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The dissolution of a dispersed gas phase in a porous medium partially saturated with liquid is a problem of broad practical interest. While capillary equilibration has been shown to affect the evolution of the dispersed phase, its coupling with the underlying diffusive process in the liquid phase remains largely unexplored. Here, we deploy a pore-network model to describe coupled dissolution and diffusive interactions of a lattice of microbubbles in irregular pore networks. We demonstrate that the dissolution process becomes more erratic than in regular networks, because of the complex interplay between local connectivity effects and diffusive shielding between neighboring bubbles. By applying the method of moments, we quantify the evolution of solute mass in the system and compute continuum-scale properties, such as the effective diffusion coefficient of the network and the dissolution rate of the bubble lattice. We observe that the presence of bubbles delays the attainment of an asymptotic diffusive behavior and reduces the spatial extent of the solute plume relative to the same liquid-saturated network. Importantly, collective effects appear to be stronger than effects associated with the local pore connectivity distribution in the network in reducing the rate of dissolution of bubbles. Article Highlights Local connectivity and collective effects control the dissolution of microbubbles in irregular pore networks Bubbles can grow significantly before undergoing complete dissolution The presence of bubbles delays the dissolution process and reduces the spatial extent of the solute plume relative to a bubble-free network The complex topology of practical porous media may strengthen collective effects even further
Date Issued
2026-06-01
Date Acceptance
2026-04-24
Citation
Transport in Porous Media, 2026, 153 (5)
ISSN
0169-3913
Publisher
Springer
Journal / Book Title
Transport in Porous Media
Volume
153
Issue
5
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2026. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Identifier
10.1007/s11242-026-02315-3
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN 63
Date Publish Online
2026-05-14