Capillary imbibition and flow of wetting liquid in irregular capillaries: A 100-year review

Capillary imbibition, such as plant roots taking up water, reservoir rocks absorbing brine and a tissue paper wiping stains, is pervasive occurred in nature, engineering and industrial fields, as well as in our daily life. This phenomenon is earliest modeled through the process that wetting liquid is spontaneously propelled by capillary pressure into regular geometry models. Recent studies have attracted more attention on capillary-driven flow models within more complex geometries of the channel, since a detailed understanding of capillary imbibition dynamics within irregular geometry models necessitates the fundamentals to fluid transport mechanisms in porous media with complex pore topologies. Herein, the fundamentals and concepts of different capillary imbibition models in terms of geometries over the past 100 years are reviewed critically, such as circular and non-circular capillaries, open and closed capillaries with triangular/rectangular cross-sections, and heterogeneous geometries with axial variations. The applications of these models with appropriate conditions are discussed in depth accordingly, with a particular emphasize on the capillary flow pattern as a consequence of capillary geometry. In addition, a universal model is proposed based on the dynamic wetting condition and equivalent cylindrical geometry to describe the capillary imbibition process in terms of various solid topologies. Finally, future research is suggested to focus on analyzing the dynamics during corner flow, the snap-off of wetting fluid, the capillary rise of non-Newtonian fluids and applying accurate physical simulation methods on capillary-driven flow processes. Generally, this review provides a comprehensive understanding of the capillary-driven flow models inside various capillary geometries and affords an overview of potential advanced developments to enhance the current understanding of fluid transport mechanisms in porous media.