Capillary ascension in porous media: A scaling law

A relationship between the microstructure of a porous medium and the height of ascension of a fluid in the material is proposed. The porous medium is modelled by means of a square lattice randomly filled with matter. A scaling law is derived from a numerical simulation. An analytical solution is also obtained and compared with the numerical results.     

Steady-state two-phase flow through planar and nonplanar model porous media

Transport in Porous Media - A comparative experimental study of ‘steady-state’ two-phase flow in two types of model porous media is made to determine the effects of nonplanarity on the...     

A LGA model for fluid flow in heterogeneous porous media

A lattice gas automaton (LGA) model is proposed to simulate fluid flow in heterogeneous porous media. Permeability fields are created by distributing scatterers (solids, grains) within the fluid flow field. These scatterers act as obstacles to flow. The loss in momentum of the fluid is directly related to the permeability of the lattice gas model. It is shown that by varying the probability of occurrence of solid nodes, the permeability of the porous medium can be changed over several orders of magnitude. To simulate fluid flow in heterogeneous permeability fields, isotropic, anisotropic, random, and correlated permeability fields are generated. The lattice gas model developed here is then used to obtain the effective permeability as well as the local fluid flow field. The method presented here can be used to simulate fluid flow in arbitrarily complex heterogeneous porous media.     

On the properties of compressible gas flow in a porous media

The flow of an adiabatic gas through a porous media is treated analytically for steady one- and two-dimensional flows. The effect on a compressible Darcy flow by inertia and Forchheimer terms is studied. Finally, wave solutions are found which exhibit a cut-off frequency and a phase shift between pressure and velocity of the gas, with the velocity lagging behind the pressure.Nomenclature A area of tube for one-dimensional flow - B drag coefficient associated with Forchheimer term - c speed of sound - M Mach number - p ^* gas pressure - p dimensionless gas pressure - s coordinate along the axis of tube - t ^* time variable - t dimensionless time variable - V^* gas velocity in the porous media - V dimensionless gas velocity Greek Letters ratio of specific heat capacities - phase angle between gas pressure and velocity for linear waves - parameter indicating the importance of the inertia term - viscosity - _p natural frequency of the porous media - ^* gas density - dimensionless gas density - parameter indicating the importance of the Forchheimer term - porosity of porous media - velocity potential - stream function     

Nonstationary model of immiscible fluid flow through porous media

Unsteady two-phase flow through a microinhomogeneous porous medium is considered. A forest growth model — a percolation model that enables nonequilibrium effects to be taken into account — is proposed for describing the dynamics of the process. In the context of the plane problem expressions are obtained for determining the saturation and the characteristic dimensions of the stagnation zones of trapped phase behind the displacement front.Translated from Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No.6, pp. 73–80, November–December, 1993.     

Generalized relative permeability coefficients during steady-state two-phase flow in porous media,and correlation with the flow mechanisms

A parametric experimental investigation of the coupling effects during steady-state two-phase flow in porous media was carried out using a large model pore network of the chamber-and-throat type, etched in glass. The wetting phase saturation,S ₁, the capillary number,Ca, and the viscosity ratio,k, were changed systematically, whereas the wettability (contact angleθ _e ), the coalescence factorCo, and the geometrical and topological parameters were kept constant. The fluid flow rate and the pressure drop were measured independently for each fluid. During each experiment, the pore-scale flow mechanisms were observed and videorecorded, and the mean water saturation was determined with image analysis. Conventional relative permeability, as well as generalized relative permeability coefficients (with the viscous coupling terms taken explicitly into account) were determined with a new method that is based on a B-spline functional representation combined with standard constrained optimization techniques. A simple relationship between the conventional relative permeabilities and the generalized relative permeability coefficients is established based on several experimental sets. The viscous coupling (off-diagonal) coefficients are found to be comparable in magnitude to the direct (diagonal) coefficients over board ranges of the flow parameter values. The off-diagonal coefficients (k _rij /Μ _j ) are found to be unequal, and this is explained by the fact that, in the class of flows under consideration, microscopic reversibility does not hold and thus the Onsager-Casimir reciprocal relation does not apply. Thecoupling indices are introduced here; they are defined so that the magnitude of each coupling index is the measure of the contribution of the coupling effects to the flow rate of the corresponding fluid. A correlation of the coupling indices with the underlying flow mechanisms and the pertinent flow parameters is established.     

Nonlinear flow in fractured porous media

Conventional models of filtration in fractured porous bodies involve certain unwarrantable assumptions related to the definition of basic equations and the underestimation of a connection between the effective properties of a body and both the stress system and the pressure of a flowing fluid. A new theory is developed with the help of reconsidering those underlying assumptions and of a conception of the body being subject to elastic deformations. The theory is illustrated by means of studying a particular problem of stationary filtration.     

Effective and relative permeabilities of anisotropie porous media

A model composed of a three-dimensional orthogonal network of capillary tubes was used to simulate the flow behavior in an unsaturated anisotropic soil. The anisotropy in the network's permeability was introduced by randomly selecting the radii in the three mutually orthogonal directions of the network tubes from three different lognormal probability distributions, one for each direction. These three directions were assumed to be the principal directions of anisotropy. The sample was gradually drained, with only tubes smaller than a certain diameter remaining full at each degree of saturation. Computer experiments were conducted to determine the network's effective permeability as a function of saturation. The main conclusion was that the relationship between saturation and effective permeability depends on direction. Consequently the concept of relative permeability used in unsaturated flow should be limited to isotropic media and not extended to anisotropic ones.     

Measuring transport coefficients necessary for the description of coupled two-phase flow of immiscible fluids in porous media

In the simplist cases of coupled two-phase flow of immiscible fluids in porous media, the governing equations usually are written to show that there are four independent transport coefficients that implicitly have to be separately measured. The analysis presented here accordingly indicates that two types of known experiments involving two measurements apiece are needed at each fluid saturation condition in order to provide the necessary and sufficient information by which the unsteady as well as the steady states of ensuing transport processes can be established and characterized. Apparently, however, the fact that methodologies are already available for the required laboratory work either is not widely appreciated or it is being overlooked. For this reason and others, mention is made of the surprising fact that the experimental difficulties to be confronted in the actual study of coupled transport processes are no greater than those that have already been dealt with by the advocates of classical relative permeability theory (i.e. the traditionalists who simplistically model two-phase flow as though no coupling effects are involved).     

An overview on nonlinear porous flow in low permeability porous media

This paper gives an overview on nonlinear porous flow in low permeability porous media, reveals the microscopic mechanisms of flows, and clarifies properties of porous flow fluids. It shows that, deviating from Darcy's linear law, the porous flow characteristics obey a nonlinear law in a low-permeability porous medium, and the viscosity of the porous flow fluid and the permeability values of water and oil are not constants. Based on these characters, a new porous flow model, which can better describe low permeability reservoir, is established. This model can describe various patterns of porous flow, as Darcy's linear law does. All the parameters involved in the model, having definite physical meanings, can be obtained directly from the experiments.     

Viscous coupling in two-phase flow in porous media and its effect on relative permeabilities

An idealized model of a porous rock consisting of a bundle of capillary tubes whose cross-sections are regular polygons is used to assess the importance of viscous coupling or lubrication during simultaneous oil-water flow. Fluids are nonuniformly distributed over tubes of different characteristic dimension because of the requirements of capillary equilibrium and the effect of interfacial viscosity at oil-water interfaces is considered. With these assumptions, we find that the importance of viscous coupling depends on the rheology of the oil-water interface. Where the interfacial shear viscosity is zero, viscous coupling leading to a dependence of oil relative permeability on oil-water viscosity ratio for viscosity ratios greater than one is important for a range of pore cross-section shapes and pore size distributions. For nonzero interfacial shear viscosity, viscous coupling is reduced. Using values reported in the literature for crude oil-brine systems, we find no viscous coupling.     

An elastoplasticity model in porous media theories

In this article, porous media theories are referred to as mixture theories extended by the well-known concept of volume fractions. This approach implies the diverse field functions of both the porous solid matrix and the pore fluid to be represented by average functions of the macroscale.The present investigations are based on a binary model of incompressible constituents, solid skeleton, and pore liquid, where, in the constitutive range, use is made of the second-grade character of general heterogeneous media. Within the framework of geometrically finite theories, the paper offers a set of constitutive equations for the solid matrix, the viscous pore liquid and the different interactions between the constituents. The constitutive model applies to saturated as well as to empty solid materials, taking into account the physical nonlinearities based on elasto-plastic solid deformations. In particular, the constitutive model concentrates on granular materials like soil or concrete, where the elastic deformations are usually small and the plastic range is governed by kinematically hardening properties.     

Saturated steam relative permeabilities of unconsolidated porous media

This paper presents a method and describes an experimental device for determining the steam-water relative permeabilites of unconsolidated porous media. The experimental conditions are as close as possible to those of geothermal reservoirs. The relative permeabilities have been obtained at 180 and 150?C. Their variations versus liquid saturation are quite classical. The air-water relative permeabilities have been measured also at room temperature. The values obtained under these three conditions are almost identical. However, the air-water relative permeability differs slightly from that of steam at 180 and 150?C. We think this discrepancy is acceptable in practice, as it is easier to determine the relative permeabilities for an air-water flow at room temperature than for a steam-water flow at high temperature and pressure.     

The microscopic analysis of high forchheimer number flow in porous media

High Forchheimer number flow through a rigid porous medium is numerically analysed by means of the volumetric averaging concept. The microscopic flow mechanisms, which must be known in order to understand the macroscopic flow phenomena, are studied by utilising a periodic diverging-converging representative unit cell (RUC). The detailed information for the microscopic flow field, in association with the locally averaged momentum balance, makes it possible to quantitatively demonstrate that the microscopic inertial phenomenon, which leads to distorted velocity and pressure fields, is the fundamental reason for the onset of nonlinear (non-Darcy) effects as velocity increases. The hydrodynamic definitions for Darcy's law permeabilityk, the inertial coefficient and Forchheimer number Fo are obtained by applying the averaging theorem to the pore level Navier-Stokes equations. Finally, these macroscopic parameters are numerically calculated at various combinations of micro-geometry and flow rate, and graphically correlated with the relevant microscopic parameters.Nomenclature a _i body force acceleration (m/s²) - A viscous integral term defined in (4.6) - A _f area of entrance and exist of RUC (m²) - A _fs interfacial area between the fluid and solid phases (m²) - B pressure integral term defined in (4.4) - d throat diameter of RUC (m) - D pore diameter of RUC (m) - Fo Forchheimer number defined in (4.1) and (4.10) - g gravitational acceleration (m/s²) - i, j microscopic unit vector for RUC - k Darcy's law permeability (m²) - k _v velocity dependent permeability defined in (4.1) (m²) - L length of a unit cell (m) - L _p pore length of RUC (m) - L _t throat length of RUC (m) - n unit outwardly directed vector for the fluid phase - p microscopic fluid pressure (N/m²) - P macroscopic fluid pressure (N/m²) - _en mean pressure at entrance of RUC (N/m²) - _ex mean pressure at exit of RUC (N/m²) - r _i,r coordinate on the macroscopic scale (m) - Re _d Reynolds number defined in (4.5) - u _i,u microscopic velocity (m/s) - specific discharge (m/s) - _d mean velocity at the throat of RUC (m/s) - v microscopic velocity (m/s) - V _b representative elementary volume (REV) (m³) - V _f volume occupied by the fluid within REV (m³) - V _s volume occupied by the solid within REV (m³) - x _i,x coordinate on the microscopic scale (m) - X _i,X coordinate on the macroscopic scale (m) Greek the inertia coefficient (1/m) - viscosity coefficient (Ns/m²) - _i microscopic unit vector - areosity at the entrance and the exit cross-section of RUC - fluid density (kg/m³) - porosity - _f a general property of the fluid phase Symbols ^f intrinsic phase average - the fluctuating part of _f - the mean value of _f - _f ^* the dimensionless value of _f     

The computer simulations of polymer dynamics in porous media

We designed and developed a simple model of polymer chains. Three types of model chains with different internal macromolecular architecture were studied: linear, star-branched with f=3 arms of equal length and rings. The chains consisted of identical united atoms (segments) and were restricted to a simple cubic lattice with the excluded volume interactions only (the athermal system). The macromolecules were confined between two parallel impenetrable walls with a set of irregular obstacles that can be treated as a crude model of porous media. The properties of the model studied were determined by the Monte Carlo simulations. A Metropolis-like sampling algorithm with local changes of chains’ conformation was used. The short- and long-time dynamic properties of the model system were studied. The differences in the mobility of chains and their fragments for different internal polymer architectures were shown and discussed. The possible mechanisms of chain’s motion were discussed.This paper was presented at the 2nd Annual European Rheology Conference (AERC) held on April 21–23, 2005 in Grenoble, France.     

Fractal porous media I: Longitudinal stokes flow in random carpets

Two-dimensional porous media whose random cross-sections are derived from site percolation are constructed. The longitudinal flow of a Newtonian fluid in the Stokes approximation is then computed and the longitudinal permeability is obtained. Two methods are used and yield the same result when porosity is low. The Carman equation is shown to apply within ±7% when porosity is within the range from 0 to 0.75. Finally, random structures derived from stick percolation are investigated; results are qualitatively the same, but the Carman equation yields a poorer approximation.     

A stochastic model for the permeability characteristics of saturated cemented porous media undergoing freezing

As the temperature of a saturated porous medium drops, the water in the pores starts to freeze. Since the temperature at which the phase change takes place is dependent on the pore size, the permeability of the medium changes continuously. Simultaneously, due to the expansion of water on freezing, it is forced to migrate through the pore body thus inducing stresses in material matrix. The stresses developed and the consequent frost damage are therefore dependent on the change in the permeability characteristics of the medium on freezing. This paper deals with the numerical prediction of permeability characteristics of porous cemented media saturated with water undergoing progressive freezing.A bond percolation model is used to generate the pore structure according to an assumed poresize distribution. Permeability of the medium at various temperatures is computed by solving the network problem. The computed results are compared with other analytical and experimental results. The proposed model predicts a threshold temperature below which permeability drops to zero. This phenomenon is crucial in developing a deeper understanding of the mechanism of frost damage to cemented porous materials such as bricks, stone, concrete, etc.     

Optical studies of local flow behaviour of a non-Newtonian fluid inside a porous medium

In this study the local flow of a polymeric solution inside a porous medium is studied visually. While the flow is quite uniform for low volume flow rates it shows pronounced nonuniformity for higher volume flow rates. That is to say, only certain preferred passages are taken and these passages change in time (they fluctuate). This flow irregularity is the reason for increased resistance. Received: 28 April 1997 Accepted: 30 December 1997