Unsteady one-dimensional flow in a saturated porous medium with a volume heat source

The one-dimensional process of the heating of a saturated porous medium by a volume heat source as a result of the absorption of the energy of a high-frequency (frequency R~ 10¹–10³ MHz) electromagnetic wave is investigated. It is assumed that in the initial state the saturating (second) component is in the high-viscosity liquid or solid state. Under the action of the heat it is heated, melts, expands, becomes less viscous and under the pressure head created may flow relative to the stationary rock skeleton (first component). On the basis of the mathematical model proposed the basic laws of the process are analyzed and numerically investigated in the case of one-dimensional axisymmetric motion. It is shown that under actual conditions the dimensions of the thermal influence zone may be very considerable. Thus, by varying certain external factors it is possible to modify the dynamics of the process and the distributions of the temperature, pressure and phase velocity fields.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 4, pp. 115–124, July–August, 1991.