Modeling Low Intensity Coupled Transport Processes in Fluid-Saturated Porous Media

Transport in Porous Media -     

Coupled Processes in Charged Porous Media: From Theory to Applications

Charged porous media are pervasive, and modeling such systems is mathematically and computationally challenging due to the highly coupled hydrodynamic and electrochemical interactions caused by the presence of charged solid surfaces, ions in the fluid, and chemical reactions between the ions in the fluid and the solid surface. In addition to the microscopic physics, applied external potentials, such as hydrodynamic, electrical, and chemical potential gradients, control the macroscopic dynamics of the system. This paper aims to give fresh overview of modeling pore-scale and Darcy-scale coupled processes for different applications. At the microscale, fundamental microscopic concepts and corresponding mass and momentum balance equations for charged porous media are presented. Given the highly coupled nonlinear physiochemical processes in charged porous media as well as the huge discrepancy in length scales of these physiochemical phenomena versus the application, numerical simulation of these processes at the Darcy scale is even more challenging than the direct pore-scale simulation of multiphase flow in porous media. Thus, upscaling the microscopic processes up to the Darcy scale is essential and highly required for large-scale applications. Hence, we provide and discuss Darcy-scale porous medium theories obtained using the hybrid mixture theory and homogenization along with their corresponding assumptions. Then, application of these theoretical developments in clays, batteries, enhanced oil recovery, and biological systems is discussed.

     

A Spatially Non-Local Model for Flow in Porous Media

A general mathematical model of steady-state transport driven by spatially non-local driving potential differences is proposed. The porous medium is considered to be a network of short-, medium-, and long-range interstitial channels with impermeable walls and at a continuum of length scales, and the flow rate in each channel is assumed to be linear with respect to the pressure difference between its ends. The flow rate in the model is thus a functional of the non-local driving pressure differences. As special cases, the model reduces to familiar forms of transport equations that are commonly used. An important situation arises when the phenomenon is almost, but not quite, locally dependent. The one-dimensional form of the model discussed here can be extended to multiple dimensions, temporal non-locality, and to heat, mass, and momentum transfer.     

A Subgrid-Scale Model for Turbulent Flow in Porous Media

Transport in Porous Media - Given the analogy between the filtered equations of large eddy simulation and volume-averaged Navier–Stokes equations in porous media, a subgrid-scale model is...     

A New Model for Immiscible Displacement in Porous Media

Immiscible displacement is regarded as the superposition of forward flows of both water and oil, due to injection of water into the medium, and of additional forward flow of water coupled with reverse flow of oil, caused by the existence of capillary pressure gradients. The model has been evaluated numerically for the prediction of the evolution of saturation profiles in waterfloods covering a wide range of water injection rates. In agreement with experimentation, saturation profiles ranging from a completely flat shape to piston-shape, depending on the injection rate, have been obtained. Also in agreement with experimentation, numerical evaluation of the model for the case of a closed system with an initial step-function saturation profile has predicted a gradual spreading of the piston front into S-shaped profiles with an increasing variance. The final profile corresponds to uniform saturation everywhere in the medium.     

Modelling Imbibition Processes in Heterogeneous Porous Media

Transport in Porous Media - Imbibition is a commonly encountered multiphase problem in various fields, and exact prediction of imbibition processes is a key issue for better understanding capillary...     

Aspects of Solvers for Large-Scale Coupled Problems in Porous Media

Transport in Porous Media - This work summarizes solution strategies for discrete systems occurring in the simulation of processes in the subsurface. The focus is on scalable solvers for large and...     

多孔介质渗透率的一种新分形模型

多孔介质的渗流特性是油气藏工程、地下水资源利用、高放废物深地质处置等实际工程领域的热门研究问题．基于分形理论及多孔介质由一束面积大小不等的椭圆形毛细管组成的假设,本文建立了流体在分形多孔介质中渗流时的绝对渗透率及相对渗透率的分形渗透率模型．结果表明,绝对渗透率是最大和最小孔隙面积、分形维数、形状因子ε的函数,且当ε =1时,本文模型可以简化成Yu与Cheng模型;而非饱和多孔介质的相对渗透率与饱和度和多孔介质微结构参数有关．将本文提出的渗透率分形模型预测与实验测量数据及其他模型结果进行对比,显示它们整体吻合很好．     

Macroscale Properties of Porous Media from a Network Model of Biofilm Processes

We demonstrate how a network model can predict porosity and permeability changes in a porous medium as a result of biofilm buildup in the pore spaces. A biofilm consists of bacteria and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) bonded together and attached to a surface. In this case, the surface consists of the walls of the porous medium, which we model as a random network of pipes.Our model contains five species. Four of these are bacteria and EPS in both fluid and adsorbed phases. The fifth species is nutrient, which we assume to reside in the fluid phase only. Bacteria and EPS transfer between the adsorbed and fluid phases through adsorption and erosion or sloughing. The adsorbed species influence the effective radii of the pipes in the network, which affect the porosity and permeability.We develop a technique for integrating the coupled system of ordinary and partial differential equations that govern transport of these species in the network. We examine ensemble averages of simulations using different arrays of pipe radii having identical statistics. These averages show how different rate parameters in the biofilm transport processes affect the concentration and permeability profiles.     

Bridging Effective Stress and Soil Water Retention Equations in Deforming Unsaturated Porous Media: A Thermodynamic Approach

The finite deformation of an unsaturated porous medium is analysed from first principles of mixture theory. An expression for Bishop’s effective stress is derived from (1) the deformation-dependent Brooks and Corey’s water retention curve and (2) the restrictions on the constitutive relationships of an unsaturated medium subject to finite deformation. The resulting expression for the effective stress parameter \(\chi \) is reasonably consistent with experimental data from the literature. Hence, it is shown that Bishop’s equation is constitutively linked to water retention curves in deforming media.     

A Bayesian Assessment of an Approximate Model for Unconfined Water Flow in Sloping Layered Porous Media

Transport in Porous Media - The prediction of water table height in unconfined layered porous media is a difficult modelling problem that typically requires numerical simulation. This...     

A Dynamic Network Model for Two-Phase Flow in Porous Media

We present a dynamic model of immiscible two-phase flow in a network representation of a porous medium. The model is based on the governing equations describing two-phase flow in porous media, and can handle both drainage, imbibition, and steady-state displacement. Dynamic wetting layers in corners of the pore space are incorporated, with focus on modeling resistivity measurements on saturated rocks at different capillary numbers. The flow simulations are performed on a realistic network of a sandpack which is perfectly water-wet. Our numerical results show saturation profiles for imbibition in agreement with experiments. For free spontaneous imbibition we find that the imbibition rate follows the Washburn relation, i.e., the water saturation increases proportionally to the square root of time. We also reproduce rate effects in the resistivity index for drainage and imbibition.     

A Stochastic Model for Particulate Suspension Flow in Porous Media

A population balance model for a particulate suspension transport with size exclusion capture of particles by porous rock is derived. The model accounts for particle flux reduction and pore space accessibility due to restriction for large particles to move through smaller pores – a particle is captured by a smaller pore and passes through a larger pore. Analytical solutions are obtained for a uniform pore size medium, and also for a medium with small pore size variation. For both cases, the equations for averaged concentrations significantly differ from the classical deep bed filtration model.     

A Fractal Model for Oil Transport in Tight Porous Media

Tight porous media are mainly composed of micro/nano-pores and throats, which leads to obvious microscale effect and nonlinear seepage characteristics. Based on the capillary bundle model and the fractal theory, a new nonlinear seepage equation was deduced, and a further fractal permeability model was obtained for oil transport in tight porous media by considering the effect of the boundary layer. The predictions of the model were then compared with experimental data to demonstrate that the model is valid. This model clarifies the oil transport mechanisms in tight porous media: the effective permeability is no longer a constant value and is governed by properties of tight porous media and oil. Furthermore, parameters influencing effective permeability were analyzed. The model can accurately present the seepage characteristics of the oil in tight porous media and provide a reliable basis for the development of unconventional reservoirs.     

A Mathematical Model for Hysteretic Two-Phase Flow in Porous Media

We develop a mathematical model for hysteretic two-phase flow (of oil and water) in waterwet porous media. To account for relative permeability hysteresis, an irreversible trapping-coalescence process is described. According to this process, oil ganglia are created (during imbibition) and released (during drainage) at different rates, leading to history-dependent saturations of trapped and connected oil. As a result, the relative permeability to oil, modelled as a unique function of the connected oil saturation, is subject to saturation history. A saturation history is reflected by history parameters, that is by both the saturation state (of connected and trapped oil) at the most recent flow reversal and the most recent water saturation at which the flow was a primary drainage. Disregarding capillary diffusion, the flow is described by a hyperbolic equation with the connected oil saturation as unknown. This equation contains functional relationships which depend on the flow mode (drainage or imbibition) and the history parameters. The solution consists of continuous waves (expansion waves and constant states), shock waves (possibly connecting different modes) and stationary discontinuities (connecting different saturation histories). The entropy condition for travelling waves is generalized to include admissible shock waves which coincide with flow reversals. It turns out that saturation history generally has a strong influence on both the type and the speed of the waves from which the solution is constructed.     

An Orthorhombic Lattice Boltzmann Model for Pore-Scale Simulation of Fluid Flow in Porous Media

One application of the lattice Boltzmann equation (LBE) models is in combination with tomography to simulate pore-scale flow and transport processes in porous media. Most LBE models in the literature are based on cubic lattice, and if the voxels in a tomography image are not cubic or cannot be divided into cubes due to computational limitations, these models will lose most of their advantages. How to deal with such images is, hence, an interest in use of the LBE model to simulate pore-scale processes. In this paper, we present an orthorhombic LBE model based on the single-relaxation time approach with the relaxation parameter varying with lattice directions. The equilibrium distribution functions in the standard LBE model were modified to correct the anisotropy induced by the non-cubic lattice, and the calculations of the fluid density and momentum were also redefined in order to maintain the conservation of mass and momentum during the collision. We tested the model against analytical solution for fluid flow in a tube, and against the standard cubic-based LBE model for fluid flow in a duct with an island inside. The model was then applied to simulate fluid flow in a 3D image in attempts to analyse the errors if the voxels in the image are not cubic but are assumed to be cubic.     

A Lattice Gas Automaton Simulation of the Nonlinear Diffusion Equation: A Model for Moisture Flow in Unsaturated Porous Media

We investigate a two-dimensional lattice gas automaton (LGA) for simulating the nonlinear diffusion equation in a random heterogeneous structure. The utilility of the LGA for computation of nonlinear diffusion arises from the fact that, the diffusion coefficient in the LGA depends on the local density of fluid particles which statistically determines the collision rate and thus, the mean free path of the particles at the microscopic scale. The LGA may therefore be used as a physical analogue to simulate moisture flow in unsaturated porous media. The capability of the LGA to account for unsaturated flow is tested through a set of numerical experiments simulating one-dimensional infiltration in a simplified semi-infinite homogenous isotropic porous material. Different mechanisms of interactions are used between the fluid and the solid phase to simulate various fluid–solid interfaces. The heterogeneous medium, initially at low density is submitted to a steep density gradient by continuously injecting fluid particles at high concentration and zero velocity along one face of the model. The propagation of the infiltration front is visualized at different time steps through concentration profiles parallel to the applied concentration gradient and the infiltration rate is measured continuously until steady-state flow is reached. The numerical results show close agreement with the classical theory of flow in unsaturated porous media. The cumulative absorption exhibits the expected t ^1/2 dependence. The evolution of the effective diffusion coefficient with the particle concentration is estimated from the measured density profiles for the various porous materials. Depending on the applied fluid–solid interactions, the macroscopic effective diffusivity may vary by more than two orders of magnitude with density.     

Simulation of Cavitation in Water Saturated Porous Media Considering Effects of Dissolved Air

An extension of a mathematical model for non-isothermal multiphase materials to consider the dissolution of air in liquid water and air mass sources during its desorption at lower water pressure is presented. The solid skeleton is assumed elasto-plastic; heat, water and air flows and water phase changes are taken into account. Physics of air dissolution and desaturation due to the air released from liquid water during cavitation in porous media are discussed. A numerical example where cavitation develops during shear band development in undrained water-saturated dense sands is solved with the developed model as discretized in space and time with the Finite Element Method.