“Inviscid Finger” Instability in Regular Models of a Porous Medium

Displacement of a fluid from a porous medium is considered. The flow is assumed to be fast enough, i.e., the Reynolds number based on the characteristic pore size is large. If he driving fluid is less dense (for example, a gas), the interface is unstable. This instability is similar to the well–known viscous finger instability but the governing parameter is density instead of viscosity. The instability is demonstrated experimentally using two–dimensional models. In square lattices of perpendicular channels, noticeable branching of fingers is not observed, which is attributed to the anisotropy of such an artificial porous medium. A more ordinary pattern with finger branching is obtained in a two–dimensional layer of spheres, which appears to be more isotropic. A simple model describing flow in a square lattice is proposed. The initial stage of growth is considered, and the instability increment is estimated. A qualitative analysis of the nonlinear stage is performed.     

Convective Instability in Superposed Fluid and Porous Layers with Vertical Throughflow

A closed form solution to the convective instability in a composite system of fluid and porous layers with vertical throughflow is presented. The boundaries are considered to be rigid-permeable and insulating to temperature perturbations. Flow in the porous layer is governed by Darcy–Forchheimer equation and the Beavers–Joseph condition is applied at the interface between the fluid and the porous layer. In contrast to the single-layer system, it is found that destabilization due to throughflow arises, and the ratio of fluid layer thickness to porous layer thickness, , too, plays a crucial role in deciding the stability of the system depending on the Prandtl number.     

Factorization of Transport Coefficients in Macroporous Media

We prove the fundamental theorem about factorization of the phenomenological coefficients for transport in macroporous media. By factorization we mean the representation of the transport coefficients as products of geometric parameters of the porous medium and the parameters characteristic of the multicomponent fluid saturating the porous space. The two permeabilities of the porous medium, the convective and the diffusional ones, are separated. A similarity between the diffusional permeability and the porosity–tortuosity factor of the Kozeny–Carman theory is demonstrated. We do not make any specific assumption about stochastic or deterministic structure of the porous medium. The fluxes in fluid on the pore level are described by general relations of the non-equilibrium thermodynamics.     

Intrapore convection when the average temperature gradient is vertical

The heat conduction of a porous medium saturated with a fluid is usually regarded as being purely molecular [1]. The assumption here is that in the case of heating from below the local temperature gradient within each of the pores, like the averaged gradient in the complete layer, is strictly vertical, and, since the pores are as a rule small, this local gradient is less than the critical. It is therefore assumed that in the absence of large-scale convection the fluid in the pores is in equilibrium. However, for different thermal conductivities of the fluid and the porous skeleton surrounding it a vertical temperature gradient in the fluid and, accordingly, equilibrium of the fluid are possible only if a cavity is a sphere or an ellipsoid with a definite orientation [1]. Since the pores do not have such shapes, the convective motion that arises in each of the pores or in several communicating pores can lead to an increase in the effective thermal conductivity of the fluid and, accordingly, the effective thermal conductivity of the complete medium. The present paper is devoted to study of this effect.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 1, pp. 93–98, January–February, 1984.     

Transmission of waves in a liquid through absorbing layers and subsequent interaction of the waves with an obstacle

The propagation of waves in porous media is investigated both experimentally [1, 2] and by numerical simulation [3–5]. The influence of the relaxation properties of porous media on the propagation of waves has been investigated theoretically and compared with experiments [3, 4]. The interaction of a wave in air that passes through a layer of porous medium before interacting with an obstacle has been investigated with allowance for the relaxation properties [5]. In the present paper, in which the relaxation properties are also taken into account, a similar investigation is made into the interaction with an obstacle of a wave in a liquid that passes through a layer of a porous medium before encountering the obstacle.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 2, pp. 53–53, March–April, 1983.     

Stability of the replacement of a non-Newtonian fluid layer in a porous medium

When petroleum is extracted from strata by replacing it with other fluids, the question arises of the stability of the interface. Uniformity in the injection horizons is in practice achieved by such methods as using polymer additives to thicken the replacing fluid or introducing an intermediate layer with non-Newtonian properties between the replacing fluid and the fluid being replaced. In this article the stability of the interface of non-Newtonian fluids being filtered exponentially is investigated in a linear formulation. The condition governing the stability of the interface of two non-Newtonian fluids is found and the influence of the thickness of the intermediate layer on the stability is also demonstrated. The presence of the layer is found to be essential for certain parameters of fluids moving in a porous medium if the replacement is to be stable.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 2, pp. 183–186, March–April, 1976.The author wishes to thank V. N. Nikolaevskii for suggesting the subject for this investigation and A. T. Listrov for his constant interest in the work.     

Influence of porosity of the base on a plane standing wave of a heavy liquid

A study is made of the simple problem of the contact of two plane-parallel potential flows of incompressible fluid when one takes place in a layer of finite thickness and the other in a semiinfinite space of a porous medium. At the interface, which is taken to be a plane, the same conditions are used as earlier in problems of the contact of two wave flows of fluids with different densities and the contact of a wave motion in a layer of compressible fluid and wave motions in an elastic semi-infinite space. These conditions reduce to equalities of the pressures and projections of the velocity vectors onto the normal to the interface.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 4, pp. 160–163, July–August, 1984.     

Stability of stationary convective flow of a mixture in a vertical porous layer

In contrast to the corresponding viscous flow, the convective flow of a homogeneous liquid in a planar vertical layer whose boundaries are maintained at different temperatures is stable [1]. When a porous layer is saturated with a binary mixture, in the presence of potentially stable stratification one must expect an instability of thermal-concentration nature to be manifested. This instability mechanism is associated with the difference between the temperature and concentration relaxation times, which leads to a buoyancy force when an element of the fluid is displaced horizontally. In viscous binary mixtures, the thermal-concentration instability is the origin of the formation of layered flows, which have been studied in detail in recent years [2–4]. The convective instability of the equilibrium of a binary mixture in a porous medium was considered earlier by the present authors in [5]. In the present paper, the stability of stationary convective flow of a binary mixture in a planar vertical porous layer is studied. It is shown that in the presence of sufficient longitudinal stratification the flow becomes unstable against thermal-concentration perturbations; the stability boundary is determined as a function of the parameters of the problem.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 1, pp. 150–157, January–February, 1980.     

Matrix–Fracture Transfer through Countercurrent Imbibition in Presence of Fracture Fluid Flow

Although a lot of research has been done in modeling the oil recovery from fractured reservoirs by countercurrent imbibition, less attention has been paid to the effect of the fracture fluid velocity upon the rate of oil recovery. Experiments are conducted to determine the effect of fracture flow rate upon countercurrent imbibition. A droplet detachment model is proposed to derive the effective water saturation in a thin boundary layer at the matrix–fracture interface. This effective boundary water saturation is a function of fluid properties, fluid velocity in the fracture and fracture width. For a highly water–wet porous medium, this model predicts an increase in the boundary water saturation with increase in fracture fluid velocity. The increase in boundary water saturation, in turn, increases the oil recovery rate from the matrix, which is consistent with the experimental results. The model also predicts that the oil recovery rate does not vary linearly with the boundary water saturation.     

Viscous incompressible flow in a narrow channel with one free wall and fluid supply through a porous insert

The problem investigated relates the plane unsteady flow of a viscous incompressible fluid in a narrow channel one of whose walls is free and acted upon by a given load, while the other is rigidly fixed. The fluid enters the channel through a porous insert in the stationary wall. A model of the flow of a thin film of viscous incompressible fluid and Darcy's law for flow in a porous medium are used to find the distribution of fluid pressure and velocity in the channel and the porous insert in the two-dimensional formulation for fairly general boundary conditions in the case where the length of the porous insert exceeds the length of the free wall. In the particular case where the length of the porous insert is equal to the length of the free wall an exact stationary solution of the problem is obtained for a given value of the channel height. The stability of the equilibrium position of the free wall supported on a hydrodynamic fluid film is examined.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 1, pp. 16–24, January–February, 1986.     

Radiative and Thermal Dispersion Effects on Non-Darcy Natural Convection with Lateral Mass Flux for Non-Newtonian Fluid from a Vertical Flat Plate in a Saturated Porous Medium

The problem of natural convective heat transfer for a non-Newtonian fluid from an impermeable vertical plate embedded in a fluid-saturated porous medium has been analyzed. Non-Darcian, radiative and thermal dispersion effects have been considered in the present analysis. The governing boundary layer equations and boundary conditions are cast into a dimensionless form and simplified by using a similarity transformation. The resulting system of equations is solved by using a double shooting Runge–Kutta method. The effect of viscosity index n, the conduction–radiation parameter R, the non-Darcy parameter Gr*, the thermal dispersion parameter Ds and the suction/injection parameter f_w on the fluid velocities, temperatures and the local Nusselt number are discussed.     

Model of coupled fluid flow in a reservoir and inside a horizontal well

A model and a numerical-analytic method of solving problems of single-phase adjoint fluid flow in a porous medium and in a horizontal well are proposed.Moscow. Translated from Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 5, pp. 112–117, September–October, 1996.     

The convective instability of Maxwell fluid-saturated porous layer using a thermal non-equilibrium model

A linear stability analysis is carried out to study viscoelastic fluid convection in a horizontal porous layer heated from below and cooled from above when the solid and fluid phases are not in a local thermal equilibrium. The modified Darcy–Brinkman–Maxwell model is used for the momentum equation and two-field model is used for the energy equation each representing the solid and fluid phases separately. The conditions for the onset of stationary and oscillatory convection are obtained analytically. Linear stability analysis suggests that, there is a competition between the processes of viscoelasticity and thermal diffusion that causes the first convective instability to be oscillatory rather than stationary. Elasticity is found to destabilize the system. Besides, the effects of Darcy number, thermal non-equilibrium and the Darcy–Prandtl number on the stability of the system are analyzed in detail.     

Throughflow Effects on Penetrative Convection in Superposed Fluid and Porous Layers

The effect of vertical throughflow on the onset of penetrative convection simulated via internal heating in a two-layer system in which a layer of fluid overlies and saturates a layer of porous medium is studied. Flow in the porous medium is governed by Forchheimer-extended Darcy equation, and Beavers?CJoseph slip condition is applied at the interface between the fluid and the porous layers. The boundaries are considered to be rigid, however permeable, and insulated to temperature perturbations. The eigenvalue problem is solved using a regular perturbation technique with wave number as a perturbation parameter. The ratio of fluid layer thickness to porous layer thickness, ??, the direction of throughflow, and the presence of volumetric internal heat source in fluid and/or porous layer play a decisive role on the stability characteristics of the system. In addition, the influence of Prandtl number arising due to throughflow is also emphasized on the stability of the system. It is observed that both stabilizing and destabilizing factors can be enhanced because of the simultaneous presence of a volumetric heat source and vertical throughflow so that a more precise control (suppress or augment) of thermal convective instability in a layer of fluid or porous medium is possible.     

Fingering associated with immiscible displacement in a two-layer porous medium

The effect of capillary cross flows on the structure of the displacement front in a two-layer porous medium with different layer permeabilities is examined. It is shown that capillary cross flows along the curved displacement front may lead to stabilization of the displacement. Approximate expressions are obtained for the limiting finger length and the oil displacement coefficient at the moment of breakthrough of the water as functions of the displacement parameters and the form of the functional parameters of the two-phase flow in the porous medium; the results obtained are compared with the results of numerical calculations and the experimental data.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 1, pp. 98–104, January–February, 1991.     

Structure and dynamics of finite-amplitude pressure perturbations in a porous medium saturated with gassy fluid

Experimental data on the structure and dynamics of pressure perturbations of moderate intensity in a porous medium saturated with a gassy fluid are obtained and generalized on the basis of a theoretical analysis.Translated from Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 1, pp, 80–85, January–February, 1992.     

The effect of a transition layer between a fluid and a porous medium: shear flow in a channel

Flow in a three-layer channel is modeled analytically. The channel consists of a transition layer sandwiched between a porous medium and a fluid clear of solid material. Within the transition layer, the reciprocal of the permeability varies linearly across the channel. The Brinkman model is used for the momentum equations for the porous medium layer and the transition layer. The velocity profile is obtained in closed form in terms of Airy, exponential, and polynomial functions. The overall volume flux and boundary friction factors are calculated and compared with values obtained with a two-layer model employing the Beavers–Joseph condition at the interface between a Darcy porous medium and a clear fluid.     

Pressure waves in a porous medium saturated with a gassy fluid

Experimental data on the evolution of pressure waves in a consolidated porous medium saturated with a gassy fluid are obtained. These data are generalized on the basis of a theoretical analysis.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 4, pp. 85–92, July–August, 1987.     

Experimental investigation of the displacement of viscous fluids from porous media

The results of experimental investigations of different-viscosity and immiscible Newtonian fluid flows through porous media are presented. The investigations were carried out for a Hele-Shaw cell occupied by a porous medium. The basic difference from the previous studies is the observation of the flow after break-through of the displacing fluid into the sink. A series of qualitative and quantitative results which clarify the physics of immiscible fluid flows through capillaries and porous media were obtained in the course of the experimental investigations.__________Translated from Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Academii Nauk, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 1, 2005, pp. 124–131. Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Baryshnikov, Belyaev, and Turuntaev.     

Unsteady flows of an inhomogeneous incompressible viscous fluid

This paper deals with a theoretical analysis of the transfer of reactive impurities by open and filtration flows of an incompressible viscous fluid. The first section of the paper studies the model of an inhomogeneous incompressible viscous fluid, which is widely used in meteorology and oceanology, with additional allowance for the drag of the magnetic field or porous medium. Another object of research in this paper is the model of filtration of an inhomogeneous incompressible fluid in porous media proposed by V. N. Monakhov (1977) (Section 2). In both models, hydrodynamic flows determine the motion of the mixture as a whole and the temperature and concentration distributions of the components of an inhomogeneous fluid are described by a common nonlinear system of equations of diffusive heat and mass transfer.Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 46, No. 2, pp. 44–51, March–April, 2005.