L.A. Riolfo

Asymmetric Rayleigh-Taylor and double-diffusive fingers in reactive systems

Buoyancy-driven flows induced by the hydrodynamic Rayleigh-Taylor or double-diffusive instabilities develop symmetrically around the initial contact line when two solutions of given solutes with different densities are put in contact in the gravitational field. If the solutes affecting the densities of these solutions are involved in chemical reactions, changes in composition due to the underlying reaction-diffusion processes can modify the density profile in space and time, and affect the hydrodynamic patterns. In particular, if the density difference between the two reactant solutions is not too large, the resulting chemo-hydrodynamic patterns are asymmetric with regard to the initial contact line. We quantify both experimentally and numerically this asymmetry showing that fingers here preferentially develop above the reaction zone and not across the mixing zone as in the non reactive situation. In some cases, the reaction can even lead to the onset of a secondary double-diffusive instability between th...

Differential diffusion effects on buoyancy-driven instabilities of acid–base fronts: the case of a color indicator

Buoyancy-driven hydrodynamic instabilities of acid-base fronts are studied both experimentally and theoretically in the case where an aqueous solution of a strong acid is put above a denser aqueous solution of a color indicator in the gravity field. The neutralization reaction between the acid and the color indicator as well as their differential diffusion modifies the initially stable density profile in the system and can trigger convective motions both above and below the initial contact line. The type of patterns observed as well as their wavelength and the speed of the reaction front are shown to depend on the value of the initial concentrations of the acid and of the color indicator and on their ratio. A reaction-diffusion model based on charge balances and ion pair mobility explains how the instability scenarios change when the concentration of the reactants are varied.

Chemical Control of Hydrodynamic Instabilities in Partially Miscible Two-Layer Systems.

Hydrodynamic instabilities at the interface between two partially miscible liquids impact numerous applications, including CO2 sequestration in saline aquifers. We introduce here a new laboratory-scale model system on which buoyancy- and Marangoni-driven convective instabilities of such partially miscible two-layer systems can easily be studied. This system consists of the stratification of a pure alkyl formate on top of a denser aqueous solution in the gravitational field. A rich spectrum of convective dynamics is obtained upon partial dissolution of the ester into the water followed by its hydrolysis. The properties of the convective patterns are controlled by the miscibility of the ester in water, the feedback of the dissolved species on its own miscibility, as well as the reactivity of given chemicals in the aqueous solution with the solubilized ester.

Experimental study of a buoyancy-driven instability of a miscible horizontal displacement in a Hele-Shaw cell

When a given fluid displaces another less viscous miscible one in a horizontal Hele-Shaw cell, the displacement is stable from the viscous point of view. Nevertheless, thin stripes perpendicular to the moving interface can be observed in the mixing zone between the fluids both in rectilinear and radial displacements. This instability is due to buoyancy effects within the gap of the cell which develop because of an unstable density stratification associated with the underlying concentration profile. To characterize this buoyancy-driven instability and the related striped pattern, we perform a parametric experimental study of viscously stable miscible displacements in a horizontal Hele-Shaw cell with radial injection. We analyze the influence of the flow rate, the thickness of the gap, and the relative physical fluid properties on the development and characteristics of the instability.