A solution of transport in porous media with equilibrium and kinetic reactions

A solution is presented to verify numerical computer codes of reactive transport with both equilibrium and kinetic reactions. A synthetic model of A ↔ B ↔ C → chain reactions is proposed to describe operator-splitting numerical schemes used in numerical computer codes. A reaction matrix is derived for both the equilibrium and the first-order kinetic reactions and further decoupled as a diagonal matrix. Therefore, the partial differential equations (PDEs) coupled by the reaction matrix can be transformed into independent PDEs, for which closed-form solutions exist or can be derived. The solution derived in this study is compared with numerical results.     

Load transfer in fibre-reinforced composites with viscoelastic matrix: an analytical study

In A fibre-reinforced 2D composite material with elastic fibres and viscoelastic, isotropic matrix is studied. Starting from the solution of a reference-problem with elastic matrix material the elastic matrix parameters are substituted by their viscoelastic correspondents in the Laplace domain. For simplification the time-dependent solution is approximated by using limiting value theorems that give information about the time-dependent solution for t → 0 and t → ∞. Then the method of asymptotically equivalent functions is used and illustrated with examples of a steel fibre in a PMMA matrix. The analytical solutions are compared with their numerical counterparts. In summary it can be stated that this paper is a further contribution to the vast literature about the application of the correspondence principle to the solution of special problems of the linear viscoelasticity.     

A Model for Flow and Deformation in Unsaturated Swelling Porous Media

A thermomechanical theory for multiphase transport in unsaturated swelling porous media is developed on the basis of Hybrid Mixture Theory (saturated systems can also be modeled as a special case of this general theory). The aim is to comprehensively and non-empirically describe the effect of viscoelastic deformation on fluid transport (and vice versa) for swelling porous materials. Three phases are considered in the system: the swelling solid matrix s, liquid l, and air a. The Coleman–Noll procedure is used to obtain the restrictions on the form of the constitutive equations. The form of Darcy’s law for the fluid phase, which takes into account both Fickian and non-Fickian transport, is slightly different from the forms obtained by other researchers though all the terms have been included. When the fluid phases interact with the swelling solid porous matrix, deformation occurs. Viscoelastic large deformation of the solid matrix is investigated. A simple form of differential-integral equation is obtained for the fluid transport under isothermal conditions, which can be coupled with the deformation of the solid matrix to solve for transport in an unsaturated system. The modeling theory thus developed, which involves two-way coupling of the viscoelastic solid deformation and fluid transport, can be applied to study the processing of biopolymers, for example, soaking of foodstuffs and stress-crack predictions. Moreover, extension and modification of this modeling theory can be applied to study a vast variety of problems, such as drying of gels, consolidation of clays, drug delivery, and absorption of liquids in diapers.     

An Analytical Solution to the One-Dimensional Solute Advection-Dispersion Equation in Multi-Layer Porous Media

An analytical solution to the one-dimensional solute advection-dispersion equation in multi-layer porous media is derived using a generalized integral transform method. The solution was derived under conditions of steady-state flow and arbitrary initial and inlet boundary conditions. The results obtained by this solution agree well with the results obtained by numerically inverting Laplace transform-generated solutions previously published in the literature. The analytical solution presented in this paper provides more flexibility with regard to the inlet conditions. The numerical evaluation of eigenvalues and matrix exponentials required in this solution technique can be accurately and efficiently computed using the sign-count method and eigenvalue evaluation methods commonly available. The illustrative calculations presented herein have shown how an analytical solution can provide insight into contaminant distribution and breakthrough in transport through well defined layered column systems. We also note that the method described here is readily adaptable to two and three-dimensional transport problems.     

Fracture-Flow-Enhanced Matrix Diffusion in Solute Transport Through Fractured Porous Media

Over the past few decades, significant progress of assessing chemical transport in fractured rocks has been made in laboratory and field investigations as well as in mathematic modeling. In most of these studies, however, matrix diffusion on fracture–matrix surfaces is considered as a process of molecular diffusion only. Mathematical modeling based on this traditional concept often had problems in explaining or predicting tracer transport in fractured rock. In this article, we propose a new conceptual model of fracture-flow-enhanced matrix diffusion, which correlates with fracture-flow velocity. The proposed model incorporates an additional matrix-diffusion process, induced by rapid fluid flow along fractures. According to the boundary-layer theory, fracture-flow-enhanced matrix diffusion may dominate mass-transfer processes at fracture–matrix interfaces, where rapid flow occurs through fractures. The new conceptual model can be easily integrated with analytical solutions, as demonstrated in this article, and numerical models, as we foresee. The new conceptual model is preliminarily validated using laboratory experimental results from a series of tracer breakthrough tests with different velocities in a simple fracture system. Validating of the new model with field experiments in complicated fracture systems and numerical modeling will be explored in future research.     

Forward and Inverse Bio-Geochemical Modeling of Microbially Induced Calcite Precipitation in Half-Meter Column Experiments

Microbially induced calcite precipitation (MICP) offers an alternative solution to a wide range of civil engineering problems. Laboratory tests have shown that MICP can immobilize trace metals and radionuclides through co-precipitation with calcium carbonate. MICP has also been shown to improve the undrained shear response of soils and offers potential benefits over current ground improvement techniques that may pose environmental risks and suffer from low “certainty of execution.” Our objective is to identify an effective means of achieving uniform distribution of precipitate in a one-dimensional porous medium. Our approach involves column experiments and numerical modeling of MICP in both forward and inverse senses, using a simplified reaction network, with the bacterial strain Sporoscarcina pasteurii. It was found that the stop-flow injection of a urea- and calcium-rich solution produces a more uniform calcite distribution as compared to a continuous injection method, even when both methods involve flow in opposite direction to that used for bacterial cell emplacement. Inverse modeling was conducted by coupling the reactive transport code TOUGHREACT to UCODE for estimating chemical reaction rate parameters with a good match to the experimental data. It was found, however, that the choice of parameters and data was not sufficient to determine a unique solution, and our findings suggest that additional time and space-varying analytical data of aqueous species would improve the accuracy of numerical modeling of MICP.     

A Mathematical Model and Analytical Solution for the Fixation of Bacteria in Biogrout

Biogrout is a new method for soil reinforcement, which is based on microbial-induced carbonate precipitation. Bacteria and reactants are flushed through the soil, resulting in calcium carbonate precipitation and consequent soil reinforcement. Bacteria are crucially important in the Biogrout process since they catalyse the reaction. Hence, to control the process, it is essential to know where the bacteria are located. The bacteria are possibly in suspension but can also be adsorbed or fixated on the matrix of the porous structure. In this article, a model is derived for the placement of bacteria. The model contains three phases of bacteria: bacteria in suspension, adsorbed bacteria and fixed bacteria. An analytical solution is derived for instantaneous reactions between these three phases. The analytical solution is compared to numerical simulations for finite reaction rates. For the numerical simulations the standard Galerkin Finite Element Method is used.     

A semi-analytical solution for linearized multicomponent cation exchange reactive transport in groundwater

Cation exchange in groundwater is one of the dominant surface reactions. Mass transfer of cation exchanging pollutants in groundwater is highly nonlinear due to the complex nonlinearities of exchange isotherms. This makes difficult to derive analytical solutions for transport equations. Available analytical solutions are valid only for binary cation exchange transport in 1-D and often disregard dispersion. Here we present a semi-analytical solution for linearized multication exchange reactive transport in steady 1-, 2- or 3-D groundwater flow. Nonlinear cation exchange mass–action–law equations are first linearized by means of a first-order Taylor expansion of log-concentrations around some selected reference concentrations and then substituted into transport equations. The resulting set of coupled partial differential equations (PDEs) are decoupled by means of a matrix similarity transformation which is applied also to boundary and initial concentrations. Uncoupled PDE’s are solved by standard analytical solutions. Concentrations of the original problem are obtained by back-transforming the solution of uncoupled PDEs. The semi-analytical solution compares well with nonlinear numerical solutions computed with a reactive transport code (CORE^2D) for several 1-D test cases involving two and three cations having moderate retardation factors. Deviations of the semi-analytical solution from numerical solutions increase with increasing cation exchange capacity (CEC), but do not depend on Peclet number. The semi-analytical solution captures the fronts of ternary systems in an approximate manner and tends to oversmooth sharp fronts for large retardation factors. The semi-analytical solution performs better with reference concentrations equal to the arithmetic average of boundary and initial concentrations than it does with reference concentrations derived from the arithmetic average of log-concentrations of boundary and initial waters.     

Equivalent diffusion coefficient and equivalent diffusion accessible porosity of a stratified porous medium

Diffusion is an important transport process in low permeability media, which play an important role in contamination and remediation of natural environments. The calculation of equivalent diffusion parameters has however not been extensively explored. In this paper, expressions of the equivalent diffusion coefficient and the equivalent diffusion accessible porosity normal to the layering in a layered porous medium are derived based on analytical solutions of the diffusion equation. The expressions show that the equivalent diffusion coefficient changes with time. It is equal to the power average with p = −0.5 for small times and converges to the harmonic average for large times. The equivalent diffusion accessible porosity is the harmonic average of the porosities of the individual layers for all times. The expressions are verified numerically for several test cases.     

Kinematically exact curved and twisted strain-based beam

The paper presents a formulation of the geometrically exact three-dimensional beam theory where the shape functions of three-dimensional rotations are obtained from strains by the analytical solution of kinematic equations. In general it is very demanding to obtain rotations from known rotational strains. In the paper we limit our studies to the constant strain field along the element. The relation between the total three-dimensional rotations and the rotational strains is complicated even when a constant strain field is assumed. The analytical solution for the rotation matrix is for constant rotational strains expressed by the matrix exponential. Despite the analytical relationship between rotations and rotational strains, the governing equations of the beam are in general too demanding to be solved analytically. A finite-element strain-based formulation is presented in which numerical integration in governing equations and their variations is completely omitted and replaced by analytical integrals. Some interesting connections between quantities and non-linear expressions of the beam are revealed. These relations can also serve as useful guidelines in the development of new finite elements, especially in the choice of suitable shape functions.     

Thermal treatments of foods: a predictive general-purpose code for heat and mass transfer

Thermal treatments of foods required accurate processing protocols. In this context, mathematical modeling of heat and mass transfer can play an important role in the control and definition of the process parameters as well as to design processing systems. In this work a code able to simulate heat and mass transfer phenomena within solid bodies has been developed. The code has been written with the ability of describing different geometries and it can account for any kind of different initial/boundary conditions. Transport phenomena within multi-layer bodies can be described, and time/position dependent material parameters can be implemented. Finally, the code has been validated by comparison with a problem for which the analytical solution is known, and by comparison with a differential scanning calorimetry signal that described the heating treatment of a raw potato (Solanum tuberosum).     

Finite element methods for one-dimensional combustion problems

Three adaptive finite element methods based on equidistribution, elliptic grid generation and hybrid techniques are used to study a system of reaction–diffusion equations. It is shown that these techniques must employ sub-equidistributing meshes in order to avoid ill-conditioned matrices and ensure the convergence of the Newton method. It is also shown that elliptic grid generation methods require much longer computer times than hybrid and static rezoning procedures. The paper also includes characteristic, Petrov–Galerkin and flux-corrected transport algorithms which are used to study a linear convection–reaction–diffusion equation that has an analytical solution. The flux-corrected transport technique yields monotonic solutions in good agreement with the analytical solution, whereas the Petrov–Galerkin method with quadratic upstream-weighted functions results in very diffused temperature profiles. The characteristic finite element method which uses a Lagrangian–Eulerian formulation overpredicts the flame front location and exhibits overshoots and undershoots near the temperature discontinuity. These overshoots and undershoots are due to the interpolation of the results of the Lagrangian operator onto the fixed Eulerian grid used to solve the reaction–diffusion operator, and indicate that characteristic finite element methods are not able to eliminate numerical diffusion entirely.     

Measurement of length-scale and solution of cantilever beam in couple stress elasto-plasticity

Owing to the absence of proper analytical solution of cantilever beams for couple stress/strain gradient elasto-plastic theory, experimental studies of the cantilever beam in the micro-scale are not suitable for the determination of material length-scale. Based on the couple stress elasto-plasticity, an analytical solution of thin cantilever beams is firstly presented, and the solution can be regarded as an extension of the elastic and rigid-plastic solutions of pure bending beam. A comparison with numerical results shows that the current analytical solution is reliable for the case of σ0 〈〈 H 〈〈 E, where σ0 is the initial yield strength, H is the hardening modulus and E is the elastic modulus. Fortunately, the above mentioned condition can be satisfied for many metal materials, and thus the solution can be used to determine the material length-scale of micro-structures in conjunction with the experiment of cantilever beams in the micro-scale.     

Characterizing the Gas Permeability of Natural and Synthetic Materials

The objective of this article is to propose an experimental method to compare the gas permeability of all the different materials used as gas barrier, such as compacted clay liners or geomembranes. This method is based on the falling pressure experiment, allowing the determination of a single coefficient whatever the material tested. This coefficient is the time constant τ, which is obtained by analytical solutions of the simplified equations describing the transport of gas through the material. The domain of validity is specified for porous media, thanks to a numerical solution of the complete equations system. Two applications are presented, showing the applicability of the method on compacted clay liners and on high density polyethylene geomembranes.     

Genetic Algorithms for Optimizing the Remediation of Contaminated Aquifer

Produced water constitutes a large amount of waste fluids during the production operation of an oil field. Underground injection for disposing the wastewater from hydrocarbon production is an engineering problem due to the possibility of leakage of injected pollutant material from receiving medium to a drinking water source. This paper describes a method for optimization of polluted aquifer remediation design using one of the artificial intelligence optimization methods, namely Genetic Algorithms (GAs). As a case study, the contaminated area was created by using a groundwater transport simulator, which is based on Method of Characteristics (MOC). Then, the developed computer program was run to find the optimum solution for remediation, and the solution yielded from the program was verified by using a groundwater simulator. The plume was captured and the concentration level of chloride ion within the aquifer was diminished by using extraction wells. The analytical model approach provided different alternatives for appropriate isolation of plume. GAs were used as an optimization technique for making a decision among the alternatives, by considering operation time, number of wells, pumping rate and drawdown as decision variables and constraints.     

Efficient solution techniques for implicit finite element schemes with flux limiters

The algebraic flux correction (AFC) paradigm is equipped with efficient solution strategies for implicit time‐stepping schemes. It is shown that Newton‐like techniques can be applied to the nonlinear systems of equations resulting from the application of high‐resolution flux limiting schemes. To this end, the Jacobian matrix is approximated by means of first‐ or second‐order finite differences. The edge‐based formulation of AFC schemes can be exploited to devise an efficient assembly procedure for the Jacobian. Each matrix entry is constructed from a differential and an average contribution edge by edge. The perturbation of solution values affects the nodal correction factors at neighbouring vertices so that the stencil for each individual node needs to be extended. Two alternative strategies for constructing the corresponding sparsity pattern of the resulting Jacobian are proposed. For nonlinear governing equations, the contribution to the Newton matrix which is associated with the discrete transport operator is approximated by means of divided differences and assembled edge by edge. Numerical examples for both linear and nonlinear benchmark problems are presented to illustrate the superiority of Newton methods as compared to the standard defect correction approach. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mobile and immobile fluid transport: Coupling framework

We introduce a solver method for mobile and immobile transport regions. The motivation is driven by transport processes in porous media (e.g. waste disposal, chemical deposition processes). We analyze the coupled transport‐reaction equation with mobile and immobile areas. We apply analytical methods, such as Laplace‐transformation, and for the numerical methods we apply Godunov's scheme, see (Mat. Sb. 1959; 47 :271–306; Finite Volume Methods for Hyperbolic Problems. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 2002). The method is based numerically on flux‐based characteristic methods and is an attractive alternative to the classical higher‐order TVD methods, see (J. Comput. Phys. 1993; 49 :357–393). In this paper, we will focus on the derivation of analytical solutions for general and special solutions of the characteristic methods that are embedded in a finite‐volume method. At the end of the paper, we illustrate the higher‐order method for different benchmark problems. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

层状横观各向同性地基上异性矩形薄板的弯曲解析解

选用更具广泛性的层状横观各向同性弹性地基模型,来分析四边自由各向异性矩形地基板的弯曲解析解。先基于直角坐标下横观各向同性体的静力胡海昌通解,借助双重傅里叶变换及矩阵传递法,获得层状横观各向同性地基的静力位移场和应力场;然后将异性薄板的弯曲控制方程,与基于层状横观各向同性弹性地基的位移解建立的板与地基变形协调方程相结合,先按对称性分解,再用三角级数法,得出层状横观各向同性弹性地基上四边自由各向异性矩形薄板的弯曲解析解,包括地基反力、板的挠度及板的内力的解析表达式。克服了数值法的弊端,取消了对地基反力的假设,且避免了矩阵指数函数的计算;同时考虑了地基的层状性及板和地基的各向异性,从而得到板的内力及地基反力更切实际的分布规律。算例结果与文献的有限元结果吻合良好,证明本文方法是切实可行的。