Chemical dissolution of a porous medium by a reactive fluid

Abstract

Chemical dissolution of a two-dimensional porous medium by a reactive fluid which produces fractal patterns is studied. A new model is proposed that introduces a cumulative erosion process which broadens the branches of the cluster and gives structures very similar to the experimental ones. Diffusion-limited aggregation is a limiting case of this model. An interpretation of the evolution of the injection pressure with time which yields the fractal dimension is also presented, and agrees with the experimental results.