The displacement of fluid fronts and the movement of solute plumes across porous media interfaces with different material properties often involve complex interactions and may result in drastic changes in phase morphology and transport pathways that are difficult to predict with present continuum models. For instance, the apparent continuous and smooth motion of fluid fronts in porous media often consists of numerous abrupt jumps at the pore scale, affecting energy dissipation and influencing phase entrapment controlling hydraulic and other transport properties of the porous medium. Examples of interfaces related to solute transport are dye patterns that express the physical and chemical heterogeneity of the underlying flow regimes.

The session solicits contributions on delineation of interfaces at scales ranging from the motion of single menisci and solute adsorption at single grains to the displacement of fronts and macroscale transport. Different model concepts to predict displacement fronts and solute concentration patterns and comparisons with classical continuum approaches are particularly encouraged.

We also invite experimental contributions documenting effects of textural contrasts on flow and transport at scales ranging from pore to plot scale (unstable and preferential flow), presentations on quantification and classification of complex flow patterns and on numerical methods and model concepts to handle the sharp interfaces and to capture them in upscaled models.