Bubble dissolution kinetics in porous media
Phys. Rev. Fluids 11, 053601 – Published 1 May, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/jr19-lxmr
Abstract
The dissolution of trapped bubbles in porous media plays a key role in subsurface gas storage, groundwater ecology, and multiphase chemical reactors. We demonstrate that the classic Epstein-Plesset model for bubble dissolution in open space fails in porous media, because pore-throat geometry (1) decouples the characteristic diffusion distance and effective mass transfer area from the bubble size and (2) distorts concentration field near bubble surface. We propose kinetic dissolution theories with analytical solutions, validated through numerical simulations and microfluidic experiments. Our results provide physical mechanisms for the predictive modeling of bubble dissolution in diverse porous media.
