Simulation of flow through porous anode in MFC at higher power density

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a novel environmental friendly energy device which has received great attention due to its technology for producing electricity directly from organic or inorganic matter by using bacteria as catalyst. To date, many experiments have been carried out to achieve the maximum power output with advective flow through porous anode to the cathode in the MFC. However, the precise mechanical mechanism of flow through anode and the quantified relationship between electrode spacing and MFC performance are not yet clearly understood. It has been found experimentally that the power output can be increased apparently at certain electrode spacing configuration. Based on these available experimental data, this paper investigates the effect of spacing between electrodes, the Darcy number of porous anode and the Reynolds number on the power production performance of MFC by using lattice Boltzmann method. The numerical simulation results present that the distance between electrodes significantly influences the flow velocity and residence time of the organic matter attached to the anode in the MFC. Moreover, it is found that the Darcy number of porous anode and the Reynolds number can regulate the output efficiency of MFC. These results perform better understanding of the complex phenomena of MFC and will be helpful to optimize MFC design.     

缝洞型多孔介质中多相流的有限体积法数值模拟

本文研究的碳酸盐岩油藏储集体属于缝洞型多孔介质.这类缝洞型多孔介质由裂缝、溶蚀孔洞和低孔隙度低渗透率的基岩组成.裂缝是空隙流体流动的主要通道;溶蚀孔洞大小从几厘米到数米不等,渗透率和孔隙度都很高,是流体主要的储集空间.由于缝洞型多孔介质空隙空间的复杂性和强非均质性,数值计算中基本控制方程的空间离散应采用非结构化网格的计算模型.本文采用有限体积法模拟缝洞型多孔介质中多相流体的流动,并给出了相应的单元中心格式有限体积法的计算公式.裂缝介质和溶洞介质中单元间多相流体的流动考虑为高速非达西流,其质量通量采用Forchheimer定律计算.非线性方程的离散选取全隐式格式,并采用Newton-Raphson迭代进行求解.通过两个二维模型注水驱油的数值模拟,验证了本文方法的有效性.     

Application of the lattice‐Boltzmann method to study flow and dispersion in channels with and without expansion and contraction geometry

The lattice‐Boltzmann (LB) method, derived from lattice gas automata, is a relatively new technique for studying transport problems. The LB method is investigated for its accuracy to study fluid dynamics and dispersion problems. Two problems of relevance to flow and dispersion in porous media are addressed: (i) Poiseuille flow between parallel plates (which is analogous to flow in pore throats in two‐dimensional porous networks), and (ii) flow through an expansion–contraction geometry (which is analogous to flow in pore bodies in two‐dimensional porous networks). The results obtained from the LB simulations are compared with analytical solutions when available, and with solutions obtained from a finite element code (FIDAP) when analytical results are not available. Excellent agreement is found between the LB results and the analytical/FIDAP solutions in most cases, indicating the utility of the lattice‐Boltzmann method for solving fluid dynamics and dispersion problems. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

LBM simulation of fluid flow in fractured porous media with permeable matrix

To analyze and depict complicated fluid behaviors in fractured porous media with variably permeable matrix, an integrated discrete computational algorithm is proposed based on lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). This paper combines with the external force model and statistical material physics to effectively describe the feature changes while the fluid passes through the fractures within the permeable matrix. As an application example, a two dimensional rock sample is reconstructed using the digital image and characterized with different feature values at each LBM grid to distinguish pores, impermeable and permeable matrix by stating its local physical property. Compared with the conventional LBM, the results demonstrate the advantages of proposed algorithm in modeling fluid flow phenomenon in fractured porous media with variably permeable matrix.     

Lattice Boltzmann simulations of turbulent shear flow between parallel porous walls

The effects of two parallel porous walls are investigated, consisting of the Darcy number and the porosity of a porous medium, on the behavior of turbulent shear flows as well as skin-friction drag. The turbulent channel flow with a porous surface is directly simulated by the lattice Boltzmann method （LBM）. The Darcy-Brinkman- Forcheimer （DBF） acting force term is added in the lattice Boltzmann equation to simu- late the turbulent flow bounded by porous walls. It is found that there are two opposite trends （enhancement or reduction） for the porous medium to modify the intensities of the velocity fluctuations and the Reynolds stresses in the near wall region. The parametric study shows that flow modification depends on the Darcy number and the porosity of the porous medium. The results show that, with respect to the conventional impermeable wall, the degree of turbulence modification does not depend on any simple set of param- eters obviously. Moreover, the drag in porous wall-bounded turbulent flow decreases if the Darcy number is smaller than the order of O（10-4） and the porosity of porous walls is up to 0.4.     

A new stochastic method of reconstructing porous media

We present a new stochastic method of reconstructing porous medium from limited morphological information obtained from two-dimensional micro- images of real porous medium. The method is similar to simulated annealing method in the capability of reconstructing both isotropic and anisotropic structures of multi-phase but differs from the latter in that voxels for exchange are not selected completely randomly as their neighborhood will also be checked and this new method is much simpler to implement and program. We applied it to reconstruct real sandstone utilizing morphological information contained in porosity, two-point probability function and linear-path function. Good agreement of those references verifies our developed method’s powerful capability. The existing isolated regions of both pore phase and matrix phase do quite minor harm to their good connectivity. The lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is used to compute the permeability of the reconstructed system and the results show its good isotropy and conductivity. However, due to the disadvantage of this method that the connectivity of the reconstructed system’s pore space will decrease when porosity becomes small, we suggest the porosity of the system to be reconstructed be no less than 0.2 to ensure its connectivity and conductivity.     

Multiphase flow in heterogeneous porous media: A classical finite element method versus an implicit pressure–explicit saturation‐based mixed finite element–finite volume approach

Various discretization methods exist for the numerical simulation of multiphase flow in porous media. In this paper, two methods are introduced and analyzed—a full‐upwind Galerkin method which belongs to the classical finite element methods, and a mixed‐hybrid finite element method based on an implicit pressure–explicit saturation (IMPES) approach. Both methods are derived from the governing equations of two‐phase flow. Their discretization concepts are compared in detail. Their efficiency is discussed using several examples. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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.     

Numerical simulation and homogenization of two-phase flow in heterogeneous porous media

A mathematically rigorous method of homogenization is presented and used to analyze the equivalent behavior of transient flow of two incompressible fluids through heterogeneous media. Asymptotic expansions and H-convergence lead to the definition of a global or effective model of an equivalent homogeneous reservoir. Numerical computations to obtain the homogenized coefficients of the entire reservoir have been carried out via a finite element method. Numerical experiments involving the simulation of incompressible two-phase flow have been performed for each heterogeneous medium and for the homogenized medium as well as for other averaging methods. The results of the simulations are compared in terms of the transient saturation contours, production curves, and pressure distributions. Results obtained from the simulations with the homogenization method presented show good agreement with the heterogeneous simulations.     

A numerical method for subcritical and supercritical open channel flow calculation

A marching finite volume method is presented for the calculation of two-dimensional, subcritical and supercritical, steady open channel flow including the usually neglected terms of slope and bottom friction. The channel flow will be assumed to be homogeneous, incompressible, two-dimensional and viscous with wind and Coriolis forces neglected. A hydrostatic pressure distribution is assumed throughout the flow field. The numerical technique used is a combination of the finite element and finite difference methods. A transformation is introduced through which quadrilaterals in the physical domain are mapped into squares in the computational domain. The governing system of PDEs is thus transformed into an equivalent system applied over a square grid network. Comparisons with other numerical solutions as well as with measurements for various open channel configurations show that the proposed approach is a comparatively accurate, reliable and fast technique.     

A finite volume method for two-dimensional transonic potential flow through turbomachinery blade rows

To predict inviscid transonic flow through turbomachinery blade rows, the exact transonic potential flow equation is solved on a mesh constructed from small area elements. A transformation is introduced through which distorted squares of the physical plane are mapped into computational squares. Two sets of overlapping elements are used; while the thermodynamic properties are calculated at the primary element centres, the flux balance is established on the secondary elements. For transonic flows an artificial compressibility term (upwind density gradient) is added to density in order to produce the desired directional bias in the hyperbolic region. while the entropy does not increase across mass conservative shock jump regions. Comparisons withexperiments and with other numerical and analytical solutions for various turbomachinery configurations show that this approach is comparatively accurate, reliable, and fast.     

Determination of permeability tensors for two-phase flow in homogeneous porous media: Theory

In this paper we continue previous studies of the closure problem for two-phase flow in homogeneous porous media, and we show how the closure problem can be transformed to a pair of Stokes-like boundary-value problems in terms of pressures that have units of length and velocities that have units of length squared. These are essentially geometrical boundary value problems that are used to calculate the four permeability tensors that appear in the volume averaged Stokes' equations. To determine the geometry associated with the closure problem, one needs to solve the physical problem; however, the closure problem can be solved using the same algorithm used to solve the physical problem, thus the entire procedure can be accomplished with a single numerical code.Nomenclature a a vector that maps V onto , m^-1. - A a tensor that maps V onto . - A area of the - interface contained within the macroscopic region, m². - A area of the -phase entrances and exits contained within the macroscopic region, m². - A area of the - interface contained within the averaging volume, m². - A area of the -phase entrances and exits contained within the averaging volume, m². - Bo Bond number (= (=(–)g²/). - Ca capillary number (= v/). - g gravitational acceleration, m/s². - H mean curvature, m^-1. - I unit tensor. - permeability tensor for the -phase, m². - viscous drag tensor that maps V onto V. - ^* dominant permeability tensor that maps onto v , m². - ^* coupling permeability tensor that maps onto v , m². - characteristic length scale for the -phase, m. - l characteristic length scale representing both and , m. - L characteristic length scale for volume averaged quantities, m. - n unit normal vector directed from the -phase toward the -phase. - n unit normal vector representing both n and n . - n unit normal vector representing both n and n . - P pressure in the -phase, N/m². - p superficial average pressure in the -phase, N/m². - p intrinsic average pressure in the -phase, N/m². - p –p , spatial deviation pressure for the -phase, N/m². - r ₀ radius of the averaging volume, m. - r position vector, m. - t time, s. - v fluid velocity in the -phase, m/s. - v superficial average velocity in the -phase, m/s. - v intrinsic average velocity in the -phase, m/s. - v –v , spatial deviation velocity in the -phase, m/s. - V volume of the -phase contained within the averaging volmue, m³. - averaging volume, m³. Greek Symbols V /, volume fraction of the -phase. - viscosity of the -phase, Ns/m². - density of the -phase, kg/m³. - surface tension, N/m. - (v +v ^T ), viscous stress tensor for the -phase, N/m².     

Three-dimensional flow driven pore-crack networks in porous composites: Boltzmann Lattice method and hybrid hypersingular integrals

This study introduces a hybrid hypersingular integral equation-Lattice Boltzmann method (HHIE-LBM) for analyzing extended 3D flow driven pore-crack networks problem in various porosity composites. First, the extended hybrid electronic-ionic, thermal, magnetic, electric and force coupled fields’ pressure and velocity boundary conditions for HHIE-LBM model are established, and the closed form solutions of extended distribution functions are given. Second, an extended 3D flow driven pore-crack networks problem in various porosity composites is translated into a coupled of HHIE-LBM equations, and the pore-crack networks propagation parameters are analyzed. Third, the extended dynamic stress intensity factors (EDSIFs) are calculated by using the parallel numerical technology and the visualization results are presented. Last, the relationship between the EDSIFs and the differential porosity is discussed, and several rules have been found, which can be utilized to understand the extended fluid flow mechanism in various porosity composites and analyze the extended fluid flow varying mechanism on coseismal slip.     

Multiscale simulation of flow and heat transfer of nanofluid with lattice Boltzmann method

Based on the lattice Boltzmann (LB) approach, a novel hybrid method has been proposed for getting insight into the microscale characteristics of the multicomponent flow of nanofluid. In this method, the whole computational domain is divided into two regions in which different-sized meshes are involved for simulation (fine mesh and coarse mesh). The multicomponent LB method is adopted in the fine mesh region, and the single-component LB approach is applied to the coarse mesh region where the nanofluid is treated as a mixed single-component fluid. The conservation principles of mass, momentum and energy are used to derive a hybrid scheme across the different scaled regions. Numerical simulation is carried out for the Couette flow and convective heat transfer in a parallel plate channel to validate the hybrid method. The computational results indicate that by means of the present method, not only the microscopic characteristics of the nanofluid flow can be simulated, but also the computational efficiency can be remarkably improved compared with the pure multicomponent LB method.