Self-similar approximants of the permeability in heterogeneous porous media from moment equation expansions

We use a mathematical technique, the self-similar functional renormalization, to construct formulas for the average conductivity that apply for large heterogeneity, based on perturbative expansions in powers of a small parameter, usually the log-variance of the local conductivity. Using perturbation expansions up to third order and fourth order in obtained from the moment equation approach, we construct the general functional dependence of the scalar hydraulic conductivity in the regime where is of order 1 and larger than 1. Comparison with available numerical simulations show that the proposed method provides reasonable improvements over available expansions.     

煤层底板原位综合测试及突水危险性评估

在实施井下钻孔水压致裂地应力测量的同时,评价岩层阻水性能,确定导升带高度,做到一孔多用。测试区实际观测表明,泥岩、粉砂岩、中砂岩、灰岩阻水性能由大到小,导升高度则由小变大,平均导升高度约32m; 地应力测量表明,该测试区原始地应力状态为SH＞Sv＞Sh,最大水平主应力方向NE至NEE。突水临界指数评价表明,-550m水平采煤工作面掘进时突水的可能性较大,应当采取防范措施。     

Coupled modeling of damage growth and permeability variation in brittle rocks

This paper presents a coupled model for anisotropic damage and permeability evolution by using a micro–macro approach. The damage state is represented by a second order tensor. The evolution of damage is determined from a crack propagation criterion. The free enthalpy function of cracked material is obtained by using micromechanical considerations. It is assumed that cracks exhibit normal aperture which is coupled with the crack growth due to asperities of crack faces. By using Darcy’s law for macroscopic fluid flow and assuming laminar flow in microcracks, the overall permeability of the RVE is obtained by a volume averaging procedure taking into account crack aperture in each orientation.     

A new method for calculating hysteretic <Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">S</Emphasis>) relationship

A new method for calculating the hysteretic relationship between hydraulic conductivity (K) and suction (S) is proposed. This method uses the experimental (K–S) data of the main wetting and drying branches and predicts satisfactorily the scanning drying and wetting curves. The proposed method is applicable to those porous media where the hysteretic Θ–S relationship complies with the independent domain concept.     

水泥与生石灰处理吹填土对比试验研究

吹填土是由水力吹填形成的,颗粒很细,固结性能差,吹填以后要经过很长时间才能自然沉积固结,待表面形成硬壳后方可进行加固处理,因此,缩短沉积固结时间,使吹填土尽快地从泥浆状态转变为具有一定承载力的地基,是亟待解决的问题。在室内进行模拟加固方法的沉降柱试验,对吹填土加添固化剂以加速其沉积固结。固化剂主要选用水泥和生石灰,对两种添加方式的机理及固结效果进行详尽的分析和研究,初步找出加固效果产生差异的原因,从而揭示其固化机理,为吹填土地基的加固提供一种更加经济可行的方法。     

Performance investigation of an advanced tracked prime mover on the low bearing soil

This study has presented a performance investigation of an advanced tracked prime mover for the operation of agricultural goods and other operations on peat terrain. The maximum and continuous traction torque of the prime mover has been developed by designing an advanced controller for controlling the intelligent system. The prime mover’s mobility is studied with ultrasonic displacement sensor, torque transducer, National Instrument cRIO-9004 Compact-RIO Real-time Controller Unit (RCU), a National Instrument TPC 2106T Touch Panel Control (TPC), a Trimble AG132 GPS antenna and receiver unit, and a Dlink DIR-655 router. The fuzzy logic controller (FLC) has been equipped with the prime mover hydraulic system to increase the traction torque of the hydraulic motor when the prime mover’s sinkage is more than or equal to 70 mm. The prime mover’s design demonstrates good potential in traversing peat terrain as the measured tractive effort was found to be 48% of the vehicle’s gross weight while the recommended tractive effort is in the range of 30–36% of the vehicle’s gross weight.     

Simulation of proppant transport at intersection of hydraulic fracture and natural fracture of wellbores using CFD-DEM

Proppants transport is an advanced technique to improve the hydraulic fracture phenomenon, in order to promote the versatility of gas/oil reservoirs. A numerical simulation of proppants transport at both hydraulic fracture (HF) and natural fracture (NF) intersection is performed to provide a better understanding of key factors which cause, or contribute to proppants transport in HF–NF intersection. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in association with discrete element method (DEM) is used to model the complex interactions between proppant particles, host fluid medium and fractured walls. The effect of non-spherical geometry of particles is considered in this model, using the multi-sphere method. All interaction forces between fluid flow and particles are considered in the computational model. Moreover, the interactions of particle–particle and particle–wall are taken into account via Hertz–Mindlin model. The results of the CFD-DEM simulations are compared to the experimental data. It is found that the CFD-DEM simulation is capable of predicting proppant transport and deposition quality at intersections which are in agreement with experimental data. The results indicate that the HF–NF intersection type, fluid velocity and NF aperture affect the quality of blockage occurrence, presenting a new index, called the blockage coefficient which indicates the severity of the blockage.     

Experimental study of air–water flow in downward sloping pipes

This paper presents results from seven experimental facilities on the co-current flow of air and water in downward sloping pipes. As a function of the air flow rate, pipe diameter and pipe slope, the required water discharge to prevent air accumulation was determined. In case the water discharge was less than the required water discharge, the air accumulation and additional gas pocket head loss were measured. Results show that volumetric air discharge as small as 0.1% of the water discharge accumulate in a downward sloping section. The experimental data cover all four flow regimes of water-driven air transport: stratified, blow-back, plug and dispersed bubble flow. The analysis of the experimental results shows that different dimensionless numbers characterise certain flow regimes. The pipe Froude number determines the transition from blow-back to plug flow. The gas pocket head loss in the blow-back flow regime follows a pipe Weber number scaling. A numerical model for the prediction of the air discharge as a function of the relevant system parameters is proposed. The novelty of this paper is the presentation of experimental data and a numerical model that cover all flow regimes on air transport by flowing water in downward inclined pipes.     

On hydraulic permeability of random packs of monodisperse spheres: Direct flow simulations versus correlations

Hydraulic permeability is studied in porous media consisting of randomly distributed monodisperse spheres by means of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The packing of spheres is generated by inserting a certain number of nonoverlapping spherical particles inside a cubic box at both low and high packing fractions using proper algorithms. Fluid flow simulations are performed within the interparticulate porous space by solving Navier-Stokes equations in a low-Reynolds laminar flow regime. The hydraulic permeability is calculated from the Darcy equation once the mean values of velocity and pressure gradient are calculated across the particle packing. The simulation results for the pressure drop across the packing are verified by the Ergun equation for the lower range of porosities (<0.75), and the Stokes equation for higher porosities (∼1). Using the results of simulations, the effects of porosity and particle diameters on the hydraulic permeability are investigated. Simulations precisely specified the range of applicability of empirical or semi-empirical correlations for hydraulic permeability, namely the Carman-Kozeny, Rumpf-Gupte, and Howells-Hinch formulas. The number of spheres in the model is gradually decreased from 2000 to 20 to discover the finite-size effect of pores on the hydraulic permeability of spherical packing, which has not been clearly addressed in the literature. In addition, the scale dependence of hydraulic permeability is studied via simulations of the packing of spheres shrunk to lower scales. The results of this work not only reveal the validity range of the aforementioned correlations, but also show the finite-size effect of pores and the scale-independence of direct CFD simulations for hydraulic permeability.     

A large deformation framework for compressible viscoelastic materials: Constitutive equations and finite element implementation

For modeling the constitutive properties of viscoelastic solids in the context of small deformations, the so-called three-parameter solid is often used. The differential equation governing the model response may be derived in a thermodynamically consistent way considering linear spring-dashpot elements. The main problem in generalizing constitutive models from small to finite deformations is to extend the theory in a thermodynamically consistent way, so that the second law of thermodynamics remains satisfied in every admissible process. This paper concerns with the formulation and constitutive equations of finite strain viscoelastic material using multiplicative decomposition in a thermodynamically consistent manner. Based on the proposed constitutive equations, a finite element (FE) procedure is developed and implemented in an FE code. Subsequently, the code is used to predict the response of elastomer bushings. The finite element analysis predicts displacements and rotations at the relaxed state reasonably well. The response to coupled radial and torsional deformations is also simulated.