A Lattice Boltzmann study of non-newtonian flow in digitally reconstructed porous domains

In the present study, the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) is applied to simulate the flow of non-Newtonian shear-thinning fluids in three-dimensional digitally reconstructed porous domains. The non-Newtonian behavior is embedded in the LBM through a dynamical change of the local relaxation time. The relaxation time is related to the local shear rate in such a way that the power law rheology is recovered. The proposed LBM is applied to the study of power-law fluids in ordered sphere packings and stochastically reconstructed porous domains. A linear relation is found between the logarithm of the average velocity and the logarithm of the body force with a curve slope approximately equal to the inverse power-law index. The validity of the LBM for the flow of shear thinning fluids in porous media is also tested by comparing the average velocity with the well known semi-empirical Christopher–Middleman correlation. Good agreement is observed between the numerical results and the Christopher–Middleman correlation, indicating that the LBM combined with digital reconstruction constitutes a powerful tool for the study of non-Newtonian flow in porous media.     

膨胀性非牛顿流体多孔介质流动的模拟分析

在表征体元尺度采用格子Boltzmann方法分析膨胀性非牛顿流体在多孔介质中的流动,基于二阶矩模型在演化方程中引入表征介质阻力的作用力项,求解描述渗流模型的广义Navier-Stokes方程．采用局部法计算形变速率张量,通过循环迭代得到非牛顿粘度和松弛时间．对多孔介质的Poiseuille流动进行分析,通过比较发现结果与孔隙尺度的解析解十分吻合,并且收敛较快,表明方法合理有效．分析了渗透率和幂律指数对速度和压力降的影响,研究结果表明,膨胀性流体的多孔介质流动不符合达西规律,压力降的增加幅度小于渗透率的减小幅度．当无量纲渗透率Da小于10-5时,流道中的速度呈现均匀分布,并且速度分布随着幂律指数的减小趋于平滑．压力降随着幂律指数的增加而增加,Da越大幂律指数对压力降的影响越明显．     

Non-Newtonian flow in microporous structures under the electroviscous effect

Single phase non-Newtonian microporous flow combined with the electroviscous effect is investigated in the pore-scale under conditions of various rheological properties and electrokinetic parameters. The lattice Boltzmann method is employed to solve both the electric potential field and flow velocity field. The simulation of commonly used power-law non-Newtonian flow shows that the electroviscous effect on the flow depends on both the fluid rheological behavior and pore surface area ratio significantly. For the shear thinning fluid with power-law exponent n < 1, the fluid viscosity near the wall is smaller and the electrovicous effect plays a more important role compared to the Newtonian fluid and shear thickening fluid. The high pore surface area ratio in the porous structure increases the electroviscous force and the induced flow resistance becomes important even to the flow of Newtonian and shear thickening fluids.     

Pressure-driven and electroosmotic non-Newtonian flows through microporous media via lattice Boltzmann method

The lattice Boltzmann method is developed to simulate the pressure-driven flow and electroosmotic flow of non-Newtonian fluids in porous media based on the representative elementary volume scale. The flow through porous media was simulated by including the porosity into the equilibrium distribution function and adding a non-Newtonian force term to the evolution equation. The non-Newtonian behavior is considered based on the Herschel–Bulkley model. The velocity results for pressure-driven non-Newtonian flow agree well with the analytical solutions. For the electroosmotic flow, the influences of porosity, solid particle diameter, power law exponent, yield stress and electric parameters are investigated. The results demonstrate that the present lattice Boltzmann model is capable of modeling non-Newtonian flow through porous media.     

Displacement of a Newtonian fluid by a non-Newtonian fluid in a porous medium

This paper presents an analytical Buckley-Leverett-type solution for one-dimensibnal immiscible displacement of a Newtonian fluid by a non-Newtonian fluid in porous media. The non-Newtonian fluid viscosity is assumed to be a function of the flow potential gradient and the non-Newtonian phase saturation. To apply this method to field problems a practical procedure has been developed which is based on the analytical solution and is similar to the graphic technique of Welge. Our solution can be regarded as an extension of the Buckley-Leverett method to Non-Newtonian fluids. The analytical result reveals how the saturation profile and the displacement efficiency are controlled not only by the relative permeabilities, as in the Buckley-Leverett solution, but also by the inherent complexities of the non-Newtonian fluid. Two examples of the application of the solution are given. One application is the verification of a numerical model, which has been developed for simulation of flow of immiscible non-Newtonian and Newtonian fluids in porous media. Excellent agreement between the numerical and analytical results has been obtained using a power-law non-Newtonian fluid. Another application is to examine the effects of non-Newtonian behavior on immiscible displacement of a Newtonian fluid by a power-law non-Newtonian fluid.     

Transient spherical flow of non-newtonian power-law fluids in porous media

The transient spherical flow behavior of a slightly compressible non-Newtonian, power-law fluids in porous media is studied. A nonlinear partial differential equation of parabolic type is derived. The diffusivity equation for spherical flow is a special case of the new equation. We obtain analytical, asymptotic and approximate solutions by using the methods of Laplace transform and weighted mass conservation. The structures of asymptotic and approximate solutions are similar, which enriches the theory of one-dimensional flow of non-Newtonian fluids through porous media.     

The Falkner–Skan Wedge Flows of Power-Law Fluids Embedded in a Porous Medium

The non-Darcy flow characteristics of power-law non-Newtonian fluids past a wedge embedded in a porous medium have been studied. The governing equations are converted to a system of first-order ordinary differential equations by means of a local similarity transformation and have been solved numerically, for a number of parameter combinations of wedge angle parameter m, power-law index of the non-Newtonian fluids n, first-order resistance A and second-order resistance B, using a fourth-order Runge–Kutta integration scheme with the Newton–Raphson shooting method. Velocity and shear stress at the body surface are presented for a range of the above parameters. These results are also compared with the corresponding flow problems for a Newtonian fluid. Numerical results show that for the case of the constant wedge angle and material parameter A, the local skin friction coefficient is lower for a dilatant fluid as compared with the pseudo-plastic or Newtonian fluids.     

Extension of the Darcy�CForchheimer Law for Shear-Thinning Fluids and Validation via Pore-Scale Flow Simulations

Flow of non-Newtonian fluids through porous media at high Reynolds numbers is often encountered in chemical, pharmaceutical and food, as well as petroleum and groundwater engineering, and in many other industrial applications. Under the majority of operating conditions typically explored, the dependence of pressure drops on flow rate is non-linear and the development of models capable of describing accurately this dependence, in conjunction with non-trivial rheological behaviors, is of paramount importance. In this work, pore-scale single-phase flow simulations conducted on synthetic two-dimensional porous media are performed via computational fluid dynamics for both Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids and the results are used for the extension and validation of the Darcy?CForchheimer law, herein proposed for shear-thinning fluid models of Cross, Ellis and Carreau. The inertial parameter ?? is demonstrated to be independent of the viscous properties of the fluids. The results of flow simulations show the superposition of two contributions to pressure drops: one, strictly related to the non-Newtonian properties of the fluid, dominates at low Reynolds numbers, while a quadratic one, arising at higher Reynolds numbers, is dependent on the porous medium properties. The use of pore-scale flow simulations on limited portions of the porous medium is here proposed for the determination of the macroscale-averaged parameters (permeability K, inertial coefficient ?? and shift factor ??), which are required for the estimation of pressure drops via the extended Darcy?CForchheimer law. The method can be applied for those fluids which would lead to critical conditions (high pressures for low permeability media and/or high flow rates) in laboratory tests.     

Mixed Convection in Non-Newtonian Fluids Along an Isothermal Vertical Cylinder in a Porous Medium

Mixed convection in power-law type non-Newtonian fluids along an isothermal vertical cylinder in porous media is studied. The problem is solved by means of a finite difference method for the case of uniform wall temperature. Results for the details of the velocity and temperature fields as well as the Nusselt number have been presented. The viscosity index ranged from 0.5–1.5.     

Heat transfer to non-Newtonian flows over a cylinder in cross flow

Over a range of 102<Re^*<5800, 6.5<Pr^*<79, and 0.6<n<1, circumferential wall temperatures for water and aqueous polymer (purely viscous) solution flows over a smooth cylinder were measured experimentally. The cylinder was heated by passing direct electric current through it. Aqueous solutions of Carbopol 934 and EZ1 were used as power-law non-Newtonian fluids. The peripherally averaged heat transfer coefficient for purely viscous non-Newtonian fluids, at any fixed flow rate, decreases with increasing polymer concentration. A new correlation is proposed for predicting the peripherally averaged Nusselt number for power-law fluid flows over a heated cylinder in cross flow.     

幂律流体在多孔介质中径向渗流的分形模型

基于分形理论及毛细管模型,本文研究了非牛顿幂律流体在各向同性多孔介质中径向流动问题,推导了幂律流体径向有效渗透率的分形解析表达式．研究结果表明,幂律流体径向有效无量纲渗透率模型和Chang and Yortsos’s模型吻合很好;同时还得出幂律流体径向有效渗透率随孔隙率、幂指数的增加而增加,随迂曲度分形维数的增加而减少．     

Soret and Dufour effect on double diffusion mixed convection from a vertical surface in a porous medium saturated with a non-Newtonian fluid

A non-similar boundary layer analysis is presented to study the flow, heat and mass transfer characteristics of non-Darcian mixed convection of a non-Newtonian fluid from a vertical isothermal plate embedded in a homogeneous porous medium with the effect of Soret and Dufour and in the presence of either surface injection or suction. The value of the mixed-convection parameter lies between 0 and 1. In addition, the power-law model is used for non-Newtonian fluids with exponent n < 1 for pseudoplastics n = 1 for Newtonian fluids and n > 1 for dilatant fluids. Furthermore, the coordinates and dependent variables are transformed to yield computationally efficient numerical solutions that are valid over the entire range of mixed convection, from the pure forced-convection limit to the pure free-convection limit, and the whole domain of non-Newtonian fluids, from pseudoplastics to dilatant fluids. The numerical solution of the problem is derived using a Runge–Kutta integration scheme with Newton–Raphson shooting technique. Distributions for velocity, temperature and concentration, as well as for the rate of wall heat and mass transfer, have been obtained and discussed for various physical parametric values.     

Pore-scale modeling of viscoelastic flow in porous media using a Bautista–Manero fluid

This article examines the extensional flow and viscosity and the converging–diverging geometry as the basis of the peculiar viscoelastic behavior in porous media. The modified Bautista–Manero model, which successfully describes elasticity, thixotropic time dependency and shear-thinning, was used for modeling the flow of viscoelastic materials which also show thixotropic attributes. An algorithm, originally proposed by Philippe Tardy, that employs this model to simulate steady-state time-dependent flow was implemented in a non-Newtonian flow simulation code using pore-scale modeling. The simulation results using two topologically-complex networks confirmed the importance of the extensional flow and converging–diverging geometry on the behavior of non-Newtonian fluids in porous media. The analysis also identified a number of correct trends (qualitative and quantitative) and revealed the effect of various fluid and flow parameters on the flow process. The impact of some numerical parameters was also assessed and verified.     

Non-Darcy Free Convection of Power-Law Fluids Over a Two-Dimensional Body Embedded in a Porous Medium

A boundary layer analysis was presented to study the non-Darcy-free convection of a power-law fluid over a non-isothermal two-dimensional body embedded in a porous medium. The Ostwald-de Waele power-law model was used to characterize the non-Newtonian fluid behavior. Similarity solutions were obtained with variations in surface temperature or surface heat flux. In view of the fact that most of the non-Newtonian fluids have large Prandtl numbers, this study was directed toward such fluids. The effects of the porous medium parameters, k ₁ and k ₂, body shape parameter, m, and surface thermal variations parameter, p, as well as the power-law index, n, were examined.     

带有障碍物溃坝流动问题的有限元数值模拟研究

针对下游带有障碍物的溃坝流动问题,本文基于两相流动模型,在有限元算法框架下对其进行数值模拟研究。依据水平集(Level Set)方法追踪运动界面,并引入了一个简单的修正技术,保证较好的质量守恒性。为了精确表示运动界面,采用稳定和有效的间断有限元方法求解双曲型Level Set及其重新初始化方程。对于两相统一Navier-Stokes方程,首先利用分裂格式对其解耦,然后通过SUPG (Streamline Upwind Petrov Galerkin)方法进行数值求解。模拟研究了下游带有障碍物的牛顿流体溃坝流动问题,得到的数值结果与文献已有模拟结果及实验结果均吻合较好。此外,还考虑了幂律型非牛顿流体,并分析了不同特性非牛顿流体对于溃坝流动过程和界面形态等的影响。     

Calculating the Anisotropic Permeability of Porous Media Using the Lattice Boltzmann Method and X-ray Computed Tomography

A lattice Boltzmann (LB) method is developed in this article in a combination with X-ray computed tomography to simulate fluid flow at pore scale in order to calculate the anisotropic permeability of porous media. The binary 3D structures of porous materials were acquired by X-ray computed tomography at a resolution of a few microns, and the reconstructed 3D porous structures were then combined with the LB model to calculate their permeability tensor based on the simulated velocity field at pore scale. The flow is driven by pressure gradients imposed in different directions. Two porous media, one gas diffusion porous layer used in fuel cells industry and glass beads, were simulated. For both media, we investigated the relationship between their anisotropic permeability and porosity. The results indicate that the LB model is efficient to simulate pore-scale flow in porous media, and capable of giving a good estimate of the anisotropic permeability for both media. The calculated permeability is in good agreement with the measured date; the relationship between the permeability and porosity for the two media is well described by the Kozeny–Carman equation. For the gas diffusion layer, the simulated results showed that its permeability in one direction could be one order of magnitude higher than those in other two directions. The simulation was based on the single-relaxation time LB model, and we showed that by properly choosing the relaxation time, it could give similar results to those obtained using the multiple-relaxation time (MRT) LB method, but with only one third of the computational costs of MRTLB model.     

A Resistance Model for Newtonian and Power-Law Non-Newtonian Fluid Transport in Porous Media

A theoretical model based on the force balance between pressure, viscous force, and inertia force is proposed to predict the flow resistance of Newtonian and power-law non-Newtonian fluids through porous packed beds. The present model takes inertia effect into consideration, and the flow regime can be extended from Darcy flow to non-Darcy flow. It is demonstrated that the present model can predict most available experimental data well. The present results are also compared to the Ergun equation and other drag correlations.     

Mass transfer effects on the non-Newtonian fluids past a vertical plate embedded in a porous medium with non-uniform surface heat flux

 The present study is devoted to investigate the influences of mass transfer on buoyancy induced flow over vertical flat plate embedded in a non-Newtonian fluid saturated porous medium. The Ostwald–de Waele power-law model is used to characterize the non-Newtonian fluid behavior. Similarity solution for the transformed governing equations is obtained with prescribed variable surface heat flux. Numerical results for the details of the velocity, temperature and concentration profiles are shown on graphs. Excess surface temperature as well as concentration gradient at the wall associated with heat flux distributions, which are entered in tables, have been presented for different values of the power-law index n, buoyancy ration B and the exponent λ as well as Lewis number Le. Received on 26 April 2000     

On the Domain of Validity of Brinkman’s Equation

An increasing number of articles are adopting Brinkman’s equation in place of Darcy’s law for describing flow in porous media. That poses the question of the respective domains of validity of both laws, as well as the question of the value of the effective viscosity μ ^e which is present in Brinkman’s equation. These two topics are addressed in this article, mainly by a priori estimates and by recalling existing analyses. Three main classes of porous media can be distinguished: “classical” porous media with a connected solid structure where the pore surface S _p is a function of the characteristic pore size l _p (such as for cylindrical pores), swarms of low concentration fixed particles where the pore surface is a function of the characteristic particle size l _s , and fiber-made porous media at low solid concentration where the pore surface is a function of the fiber diameter. If Brinkman’s 3D flow equation is valid to describe the flow of a Newtonian fluid through a swarm of fixed particles or fibrous media at low concentration under very precise conditions (Lévy 1983), then we show that it cannot apply to the flow of such a fluid through classical porous media.     

聚合物流体渗流机理研究

聚合物流体在多孔介质中渗流的研究是近年来有重大进展的领域。本文介绍从力学与物理方法进行渗流机理研究的思路、主要结果和当前活跃的研究课题。流体的非牛顿性对复杂边界条件下均匀流体力学效应的影响已得到了较好的定量处理;揭示了拉伸流粘弹特性对渗流影响的机理,其定量描述则尚有待努力。进而讨论了石油工程中十分重要的非均一流体渗流的新进展,包括大分子效应与粘性指进效应及其分形描述。对于上述物理效应的综合考虑将使聚合物渗流力学研究进入新的阶段。