Spatial correlations in permeability distributions due to extreme dynamics restructuring of unconsolidated sandstone

We propose a model for porous sandstone formation from unconsolidated sand based on a series of restructuring events where the local pressure difference due to flow in the sand is the largest. We investigate the local and global permeability distributions after steady state has been reached. Whereas we find no spatial correlations in the local permeability distribution, the distribution of inverse permeability shows spatial correlations consistent with a fractional Brownian noise characterized by a Hurst exponent of 0.88(9). The global permeability of the system shows time fluctuations as restructuring proceeds consistent with self-affinity characterized by a Hurst exponent of 0.25(3), crossing over to white noise at larger time scales.     

A difference-fractal model for the permeability of fibrous porous media

In this Letter, a difference-fractal model for the permeability of viscous flow through fibrous porous media is proposed. Since fractal objects have well-defined geometric properties, and are discrete and discontinuous, we apply the difference approach to developing the fractal model. The model of non-dimensional permeability is expressed as a function of porosity and fractal dimension. To verify the validity of the proposed model, the predicted permeability values are compared with those of experimental measurements. A good agreement between the prediction of the fractal model and the existing experimental data from the literature is found.     

二维非均匀多孔介质中不可压两相驱替的有限分析算法

为提高油藏数值模拟算法的计算效率,在求解单向稳态渗流的有限分析算法基础上,构建二维非均匀多孔介质中不可压两相渗流的有限分析算法.算法中,网格界面上的平均渗透率不是简单地取为相邻网格渗透率的调和平均值,而是通过奇点邻域解析解积分求得.相比于传统的数值算法,有限分析算法随着网格的加密,能够很快地收敛(仅需将原始网格细分至2×2或3×3),并且其计算精度和收敛性不依赖于介质的非均匀强度,从而计算效率得到提高.     

Fixed points of renormalization group for the hierarchical fermionic model

A fermionic version of Dyson's hierarchical model is defined. An exact renormalization group transformation is given as a rational transformation of two-dimensional parameter space. Two branches of nontrivial fixed points are described, one of which bifurcates from the trivial Gaussian branch. The existence of the thermodynamic limit for these branches of fixed points is investigated.     

Validity of the permeability Carman-Kozeny equation: A volume averaging approach

A volume averaging approach is used to estimate the porous media permeability. Contrary to traditional methods that rely on solving the Navier-Stokes equations for laminar flow, this approach has the advantage that it does not require the specification of some physical conditions and parameters (pressure drop and viscosity). Numerical results on synthetic models of porous media showed that (i) the local porous medium configuration has an important effect on the permeability value, and (ii) the Carman-Kozeny equation cannot describe the permeability behavior as a function of porosity and characteristic lengths. In turn, our results indicate that simple empirical equations, commonly used in practice, are unable to describe the permeability functionalities over a broad range of porous media configurations.     

Exploring the surface permeability of nanoporous particles by pulsed field gradient NMR

A new method to determine the surface permeability of nanoporous particles is proposed. It is based on the comparison of experimental data on tracer exchange and intracrystalline molecular mean square displacements as obtained by the PFG NMR tracer desorption technique with the corresponding solutions of the diffusion equation via dynamical Monte Carlo simulations. The method is found to be particularly sensitive in the "intermediate" regime, when the influence of intracrystalline diffusion and surface resistances of the nanoporous crystal on molecular transport are comparable and the conventional method fails. As an example, the surface permeabilities of two samples of zeolite NaCaA with different crystal sizes are determined with methane, as a probe molecule, at room temperature.     

Calculation of the permeability of porous media using hydrodynamic cellular automata

The permeability of two-dimensional porous media is calculated numerically as a function of porosity using the hydrodynamic cellular automata (lattice gas) approach. Results are presented for systems with up to 22 million sites (8192×2688). For randomly distributed solid obstacles whose macroscopic dimensions are much longer than the mean free path of particles in the fluid, the permeability varies with porosity as (–0.6)/(1–) for>0.7. When the solid obstacles are much smaller than the mean free path of particles in the fluid, i.e., when they form a dust of point objects, then such a relationship no longer holds and the permeability is more than an order of magnitude smaller than for the former case. The program used for the simulations is discussed and a listing is presented in the Appendix which achieved a sustained speed of 185 million sites updated per second on a single processor of the Cray-YMP. (On a Sun Sparc Workstation, the same program ran about 100 times slower.)     

A random field model for anomalous diffusion in heterogeneous porous media

Heterogeneity, as it occurs in porous media, is characterized in terms of a scaling exponent, or fractal dimension. A feature of primary interest for two-phase flow is the mixing length. This paper determines the relation between the scaling exponent for the heterogeneity and the scaling exponent which governs the mixing length. The analysis assumes a linear transport equation and uses random fields first in the characterization of the heterogeneity and second in the solution of the flow problem, in order to determine the mixing exponents. The scaling behavior changes from long-length-scale dominated to short-length-scale dominated at a critical value of the scaling exponent of the rock heterogeneity. The long-length-scale-dominated diffusion is anomalous.     

Lattice Boltzmann方法模拟多孔介质Klinkenberg效应

格子Boltzmann数值模拟方法是研究复杂的多孔介质结构特别是Klinkenberg效应的有效方法之一，对处理复杂边值问题尤其有效，用格子Boltzmann方法研究了气流穿越多孔介质问题，并将数值计算结果与实验结果进行了比较，结果表明格子Boltzmann方法是数值模拟气流穿越多孔介质问题的有效方法之一。     

An analysis of the radial flow in the heterogeneous porous media based on fractal and constructal tree networks

In this paper, an analysis of the radial flow in the heterogeneous porous media based on fractal and constructal tree networks is presented. A dual-domain model is applied to simulate the heterogeneous porous media embedded with a constructal tree network based on the fractal distribution of pore space and tortuosity nature of flow paths. The analytical expressions for seepage velocity, pressure drop, local and global permeability of the network and binary system are derived, and the transport properties for the optimal branching structure are discussed. Notable is that the global permeability (K_n) of the network and the volume fraction (f_n) occupied by the network exhibit linear scaling law with the fractal dimension (D_p) of channel diameter bylogK_n∼0.46D_p and logf_n∼1.03D_p, respectively. Our analytical results are in good agreement with the available numerical results for steady-state soil vapor extraction and indicate that the fractal dimension for pore space has significant effect on the permeable properties of the media. The proposed dual-domain model may capture the characteristics of heterogeneous porous media and help understanding the transport mechanisms of the radial flow in the media.     

Echo tracer dispersion in flows of polymer solutions through porous media: A tool for detecting weak permeability heterogeneities?

Tracer dispersion in Newtonian and shear-thinning fluids (scleroglucan-water polymer solutions) flowing through single and double porosity grain packings has been studied experimentally using both classical transmission dispersion and echo dispersion (in the latter, the concentration variation front is pumped back through a detector at the inlet after penetrating for a chosen distance into the sample). Transmission dispersion increases markedly in both types of samples with the shear thinning index of the fluid at all Péclet numbers (except when molecular diffusion is dominant). Echo and transmission experiments give nearly identical dispersivity values for Newtonian fluids while echo dispersivity is lower than transmission for shear thinning ones. The normalized dispersivity difference has same order of magnitude for single and double porosity samples and increases with the shear thinning exponent α (by a factor of 2 between α = 0.35 and α = 0.60). This difference may be due to heterogeneities inducing permeability variations of small amplitude over distances of the order of the sample section : their influence on tracer dispersion is partly reversible with respect to a change of the flow direction and is only detectable if it is amplified by the shear-thinning properties of the fluid. Received 19 September 2001     

Position-space renormalization for systems with weak long-range interactions and the breakdown of hyperscaling

Exact renormalization group equations are derived for a position-space renormalization of spin systems with weak long-range forces. It is shown how an apparent dependence of the critical exponents on the choice of the renormalization group can be resolved via the mechanism of dangerous irrelevant variables and that this same mechanism is responsible for the breakdown of hyperscaling. The dimensiond=4 can be seen to be a borderline dimension above which classical critical exponents are expected.     

多孔介质流动沸腾微观模型实验研究

多孔通道内流动沸腾广泛应用于热管、高效换热器、航天热防护等领域,认识孔隙尺度相变典型行为及特点有助于理解多孔介质内沸腾传热机理,进而改进多孔介质内部流体相变模型。基于此,本文搭建了二维多孔介质内流动沸腾实验台,对微米级多孔通道内部流动沸腾现象及气泡行为进行研究。实验发现在毛细力、黏性力和惯性力的共同作用下,多孔介质内的流动沸腾形态显著区别于直通道内的沸腾,存在局部气泡堵塞、合并和液膜蒸干、再润湿等行为。该研究有助于增强对相变过程的理解,并为多孔结构优化设计提供指导。     

用格子玻尔兹曼方法研究流动-反应耦合的非线性渗流问题

根据格子玻尔兹曼计算技术以及相应渗流理论，对多孔介质内流动-反应(矿物介质的溶解等)耦合这一非线性渗流问题进行了数值研究，计算结果与解析解基本符合.数字图像重构技术反映的结果表明流体流动和反应之间可以发生强烈的耦合和反耦合作用，同时可以形成条带结构这一自组织现象，与实验和其他理论分析结果符合也很好. 关键词： 非线性渗流 耦合反应 数值模型     

High magnetic field behavior of strongly correlated uranium-based compounds

Magnetic fields are now available to 100?T (pulsed), 45?T (static) at temperatures below 0.3?K. Such technical developments allow the study and tuning of (quantum) phase transitions, unusual magnetic structures and (high-temperature) superconductors in a variety of quantum materials. An especially important class of strongly correlated electron materials is the heavy Fermi liquids (HFLs) displaying numerous reduced-moment antiferromagnets, quantum critical points, unconventional superconductivity, hidden order (HO) and other mysterious ground states. Among the ‘heavy fermions’, the duality of 5f electrons in uranium-based compounds introduces interesting behavior that can be affected by large magnetic fields. I list a few such heavy fermion materials to be considered: URu₂Si₂ and its tunable hidden state, UBe₁₃ and UPt₃ as very HFL paramagnets that become superconducting, the magnetic superconductors UPd₂Al₃ and UNi₂Al₃, and the ferromagnetic s UGe₂, URhGe and UCoGe. There are also the suggested metamagnetic Fermi-surface reconstructed intermetallic compounds such as UPt₂Si₂ and UCo₂Si₂. Present research attention focuses on the high-field behavior (30–40?T) of URu₂Si₂ and its destruction of HO. These and other U-based systems, e.g. UAu₂Si₂, UIrGe, etc., expand the opportunities of high magnetic field studies far into the future.     

Analysis of a renormalization group method and normal form theory for perturbed ordinary differential equations

For singular perturbation problems, the renormalization group (RG) method of Chen, Goldenfeld, and Oono [Phys. Rev. E. 49 (1994) 4502–4511] has been shown to be an effective general approach for deriving reduced or amplitude equations that govern the long time dynamics of the system. It has been applied to a variety of problems traditionally analyzed using disparate methods, including the method of multiple scales, boundary layer theory, the WKBJ method, the Poincaré–Lindstedt method, the method of averaging, and others. In this article, we show how the RG method may be used to generate normal forms for large classes of ordinary differential equations. First, we apply the RG method to systems with autonomous perturbations, and we show that the reduced or amplitude equations generated by the RG method are equivalent to the classical Poincaré–Birkhoff normal forms for these systems up to and including terms of , where is the perturbation parameter. This analysis establishes our approach and generalizes to higher order. Second, we apply the RG method to systems with nonautonomous perturbations, and we show that the reduced or amplitude equations so generated constitute time-asymptotic normal forms, which are based on KBM averages. Moreover, for both classes of problems, we show that the main coordinate changes are equivalent, up to translations between the spaces in which they are defined. In this manner, our results show that the RG method offers a new approach for deriving normal forms for nonautonomous systems, and it offers advantages since one can typically more readily identify resonant terms from naive perturbation expansions than from the nonautonomous vector fields themselves. Finally, we establish how well the solution to the RG equations approximates the solution of the original equations on time scales of .     

A new method for simulation and analysis of displacement of fluids in porous media

Using the principle of diffusion-limited aggregation(DLA),a new model is introduced to simulate the displacement of one fluid by another in porous media.The results agree with experiments.apparently they do not leave out film-flow phenomena.Simultaneously,we also present a new numerical method to treat our results by the lattice Boltzmann method(LBM),All these will be helpful for analysing similar subjects.     

Development of a new correlation to calculate permeability for flows with high Knudsen number

Flows with high Knudsen number play a prominent role in many engineering applications. The present study is an effort toward the simulation of flow with high Knudsen number using modified lattice Boltzmann method(LBM) through a porous medium in a channel. The effect of collision between molecules and solid walls, which is required to accurately simulate transition flow regime, is taken into account using a modified relaxation time. Slip velocity on the wall, which is another significant difficulty in simulating transition flow regime, is captured using the slip reflection boundary condition(SRBC). The geometry of porous medium is considered as in-line and staggered. The results are in good agreement with previous works. A new correlation is obtained between permeability, Knudsen number and porosity for flows in transition flow regimes.