Estimation of Shale Intrinsic Permeability with Process-Based Pore Network Modeling Approach

A multi-scale pore network model is developed for shale with the process-based method (PBM). The pore network comprises three types of sub-networks: the \(\upmu \)m-scale sub-network, the nm-scale pore sub-network in organic matter (OM) particles and the nm-scale pore sub-network in clay aggregates. Process-based simulations mimic shale-forming geological processes and generate a \(\upmu \)m-scale sub-network which connects interparticle pores, OM particles and clay aggregates. The nm-scale pore sub-networks in OM and clay are extracted from monodisperse sphere packing. Nm-scale throats in OM and clay are simplified to be cylindrical and cuboid-shaped, respectively. The nm-scale pore sub-networks are inserted into selected OM particles and clay aggregates in the \(\upmu \)m-scale sub-network to form an integrated multi-scale pore network. No-slip permeability is evaluated on multi-scale pore networks. Permeability calculations verify that shales permeability keeps decreasing when nm-scale pores and throats replace \(\upmu \)m-scale pores. Soft shales may have higher porosity but similar range of permeability with hard shales. Small compaction leads to higher permeability when nm-scale pores dominate a pore network. Nm-scale pore networks with higher interconnectivity contribute to higher permeability. Under constant shale porosity, the shale matrix with cuboid-shaped nm-scale throats has lower no-slip permeability than that with cylindrical throats. Different from previous reconstruction processes, the new reconstruction process first considers the porous OM and clay distribution with PBM. The influence of geological processes on the multi-scale pore networks is also first analyzed for shale. Moreover, this study considers the effect of OM porosities and different pore morphologies in OM and clay on shale permeability.     

Oriented Shadowing Property and $$\Omega $$-Stability for Vector Fields

We call that a vector field has the oriented shadowing property if for any \(\varepsilon >0\) there is \(d>0\) such that each \(d\)-pseudo orbit is \(\varepsilon \)-oriented shadowed by some real orbit. In this paper, we show that the \(C^1\)-interior of the set of vector fields with the oriented shadowing property is contained in the set of vector fields with the \(\Omega \)-stability.     

Initial and Boundary Blow-U Problem for $$$$-Lalacian Parabolic Equation with General Absortion

In this article, we investigate the initial and boundary blow-up problem for the \(p\)-Laplacian parabolic equation \(u_t-\Delta _p u=-b(x,t)f(u)\) over a smooth bounded domain \(\Omega \) of \(\mathbb {R}^N\) with \(N\ge 2\), where \(\Delta _pu=\mathrm{div}(|\nabla u|^{p-2}\nabla u)\) with \(p>1\), and \(f(u)\) is a function of regular variation at infinity. We study the existence and uniqueness of positive solutions, and their asymptotic behaviors near the parabolic boundary.     

On the Justification of Viscoelastic Elliptic Membrane Shell Equations

We consider a family of linearly viscoelastic shells with thickness \(2\varepsilon\), clamped along their entire lateral face, all having the same middle surface \(S=\boldsymbol{\theta}(\bar{\omega})\subset \mathbb{R}^{3}\), where \(\omega\subset\mathbb{R}^{2}\) is a bounded and connected open set with a Lipschitz-continuous boundary \(\gamma\). We make an essential geometrical assumption on the middle surface \(S\), which is satisfied if \(\gamma\) and \(\boldsymbol{\theta}\) are smooth enough and \(S\) is uniformly elliptic. We show that, if the applied body force density is \(O(1)\) with respect to \(\varepsilon\) and surface tractions density is \(O(\varepsilon)\), the solution of the scaled variational problem in curvilinear coordinates, \(\boldsymbol{u}( \varepsilon)\), defined over the fixed domain \(\varOmega=\omega\times (-1,1)\) for each \(t\in[0,T]\), converges to a limit \(\boldsymbol{u}\) with \(u_{\alpha}(\varepsilon)\rightarrow u_{\alpha}\) in \(W^{1,2}(0,T,H ^{1}(\varOmega))\) and \(u_{3}(\varepsilon)\rightarrow u_{3}\) in \(W^{1,2}(0,T,L^{2}(\varOmega))\) as \(\varepsilon\to0\). Moreover, we prove that this limit is independent of the transverse variable. Furthermore, the average \(\bar{\boldsymbol{u}}= \frac{1}{2}\int_{-1}^{1} \boldsymbol{u}dx_{3}\), which belongs to the space \(W^{1,2}(0,T, V_{M}( \omega))\), where

$$V_{M}(\omega)=H^{1}_{0}(\omega)\times H^{1}_{0}(\omega)\times L ^{2}(\omega), $$

satisfies what we have identified as (scaled) two-dimensional equations of a viscoelastic membrane elliptic shell, which includes a long-term memory that takes into account previous deformations. We finally provide convergence results which justify those equations.

     

Spreading in a Shifting Environment Modeled by the Diffusive Logistic Equation with a Free Boundary

We investigate the influence of a shifting environment on the spreading of an invasive species through a model given by the diffusive logistic equation with a free boundary. When the environment is homogeneous and favourable, this model was first studied in Du and Lin (SIAM J Math Anal 42:377–405, 2010), where a spreading–vanishing dichotomy was established for the long-time dynamics of the species, and when spreading happens, it was shown that the species invades the new territory at some uniquely determined asymptotic speed \(c_0>0\). Here we consider the situation that part of such an environment becomes unfavourable, and the unfavourable range of the environment moves into the favourable part with speed \(c>0\). We prove that when \(c\ge c_0\), the species always dies out in the long-run, but when \(0<c<c_0\), the long-time behavior of the species is determined by a trichotomy described by (a) vanishing, (b) borderline spreading, or (c) spreading. If the initial population is written in the form \(u_0(x)=\sigma \phi (x)\) with \(\phi \) fixed and \(\sigma >0\) a parameter, then there exists \(\sigma _0>0\) such that vanishing happens when \(\sigma \in (0,\sigma _0)\), borderline spreading happens when \(\sigma =\sigma _0\), and spreading happens when \(\sigma >\sigma _0\).     

A practical synchronization approach for fractional-order chaotic systems

A practical synchronization approach is proposed for a class of fractional-order chaotic systems to realize perfect \(\delta \)-synchronization, and the nonlinear functions in the fractional-order chaotic systems are all polynomials. The \(\delta \)-synchronization scheme in this paper means that the origin in synchronization error system is stable. The reliability of \(\delta \)-synchronization has been confirmed on a class of fractional-order chaotic systems with detailed theoretical proof and discussion. Furthermore, the \(\delta \)-synchronization scheme for the fractional-order Lorenz chaotic system and the fractional-order Chua circuit is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Threshold Behavior and Non-quasiconvergent Solutions with Localized Initial Data for Bistable Reaction–Diffusion Equations

We consider bounded solutions of the semilinear heat equation \(u_t=u_{xx}+f(u)\) on \(R\), where \(f\) is of the unbalanced bistable type. We examine the \(\omega \)-limit sets of bounded solutions with respect to the locally uniform convergence. Our goal is to show that even for solutions whose initial data vanish at \(x=\pm \infty \), the \(\omega \)-limit sets may contain functions which are not steady states. Previously, such examples were known for balanced bistable nonlinearities. The novelty of the present result is that it applies to a robust class of nonlinearities. Our proof is based on an analysis of threshold solutions for ordered families of initial data whose limits at infinity are not necessarily zeros of \(f\).     

A Note on the Convergence of Singularly Perturbed Second Order Potential-Type Equations

In this paper we study the limit as \(\varepsilon \rightarrow 0\) of the singularly perturbed second order equation \(\varepsilon ^2 \ddot{u}_\varepsilon + \nabla _{\!x} V(t,u_\varepsilon (t))=0\), where V(t, x) is a potential. We assume that \(u_0(t)\) is one of its equilibrium points such that \(\nabla _{\!x}V(t,u_0(t))=0\) and \(\nabla _{\!x}^2V(t,u_0(t))>0\). We find that, under suitable initial data, the solutions \(u_\varepsilon \) converge uniformly to \(u_0\), by imposing mild hypotheses on V. A counterexample shows that they cannot be weakened.     

Models of Elastic Shells in Contact with a Rigid Foundation: An Asymptotic Approach

We consider a family of linearly elastic shells with thickness \(2\varepsilon\) (where \(\varepsilon\) is a small parameter). The shells are clamped along a portion of their lateral face, all having the same middle surface \(S\), and may enter in contact with a rigid foundation along the bottom face.We are interested in studying the limit behavior of both the three-dimensional problems, given in curvilinear coordinates, and their solutions (displacements \(\boldsymbol{u}^{\varepsilon}\) of covariant components \(u_{i}^{\varepsilon}\)) when \(\varepsilon\) tends to zero. To do that, we use asymptotic analysis methods. On one hand, we find that if the applied body force density is \(O(1)\) with respect to \(\varepsilon\) and surface tractions density is \(O(\varepsilon)\), a suitable approximation of the variational formulation of the contact problem is a two-dimensional variational inequality which can be identified as the variational formulation of the obstacle problem for an elastic membrane. On the other hand, if the applied body force density is \(O(\varepsilon^{2})\) and surface tractions density is \(O(\varepsilon^{3})\), the corresponding approximation is a different two-dimensional inequality which can be identified as the variational formulation of the obstacle problem for an elastic flexural shell. We finally discuss the existence and uniqueness of solution for the limit two-dimensional variational problems found.     

Uniaxial experimental study of the acoustic emission and deformation behavior of composite rock based on 3D digital image correlation (DIC)

In this paper, uniaxial compression tests were carried out on a series of composite rock specimens with different dip angles, which were made from two types of rock-like material with different strength. The acoustic emission technique was used to monitor the acoustic signal characteristics of composite rock specimens during the entire loading process. At the same time, an optical non-contact 3 D digital image correlation technique was used to study the evolution of axial strain field and the maximal strain field before and after the peak strength at different stress levels during the loading process. The effect of bedding plane inclination on the deformation and strength during uniaxial loading was analyzed. The methods of solving the elastic constants of hard and weak rock were described. The damage evolution process, deformation and failure mechanism, and failure mode during uniaxial loading were fully determined. The experimental results show that the θ = 0?–45?specimens had obvious plastic deformation during loading, and the brittleness of the θ = 60?–90?specimens gradually increased during the loading process. When the anisotropic angle θincreased from 0?to 90?, the peak strength, peak strain,and apparent elastic modulus all decreased initially and then increased. The failure mode of the composite rock specimen during uniaxial loading can be divided into three categories:tensile fracture across the discontinuities(θ = 0?–30?), slid-ing failure along the discontinuities(θ = 45?–75?), and tensile-split along the discontinuities(θ = 90?). The axial strain of the weak and hard rock layers in the composite rock specimen during the loading process was significantly different from that of the θ = 0?–45?specimens and was almost the same as that of the θ = 60?–90?specimens. As for the strain localization highlighted in the maximum principal strain field, the θ = 0?–30?specimens appeared in the rock matrix approximately parallel to the loading direction,while in the θ = 45?–90?specimens it appeared at the hard and weak rock layer interface.     

A semi-locally scaled eddy viscosity formulation for LES wall models and flows at high speeds

We show that the mean wall-shear stresses in wall-modeled large-eddy simulations (WMLES) of high-speed flows can be off by up to \(\approx 100\%\) with respect to a DNS benchmark when using the van-Driest-based damping function, i.e., the conventional damping function. Errors in the WMLES-predicted wall-shear stresses are often attributed to the so-called log-layer mismatch, which, albeit also an error in wall-shear stresses \(\tau _\mathrm{w}\), is an error of about \(15\%\). The larger error identified here cannot be removed using the previously developed remedies for the log-layer mismatch. This error may be removed by using the semi-local scaling, i.e., \(l_\nu =\mu /\sqrt{\rho \tau _\mathrm{w}}\), in the damping function, where \(\mu \) and \(\rho \) are the local mean dynamic viscosity and density, respectively.     

The Mixed Convection Boundary Layer on a Vertical Melting Front in a Non-Darcian Porous Medium

The effect of surface melting on the dual solutions that can arise in the problem of the mixed convection boundary-layer flow past a vertical surface embedded in a non-Darcian porous medium is considered. The problem is described by M, melting parameter, \(\lambda \), mixed convection parameter, and \(\gamma \), the flow inertia coefficient, numerical results being obtained in terms of these three parameters. It is seen that the melting phenomenon reduces the heat transfer rate and enhances the boundary-layer separation at the solid–liquid interface. Asymptotic solutions for the forced convection, \(\lambda =0\), and free convection, large \(\lambda \), limits are derived.     

Exact solution and invariant for fractional Cattaneo anomalous diffusion of cells in two-dimensional comb framework

This paper presents an investigation on anomalous diffusion of cells in a two-dimensional comb framework with effects of fractional Cattaneo flux. Formulated governing equation is an evolution equation with the coexisting characteristics of parabolic (diffusion) and hyperbolic (wave) for \(\alpha \) in (0, 1). Exact solution is obtained by the special fractional integral transformations, and a novel invariant is established, i.e., \(\left\langle {x^{2}\left( t \right) } \right\rangle \cdot \left\langle P \right\rangle = 0.5\) (the mean square displacement multiplied by the total number of cells along the x-axis = 0.5). Moreover, the characteristics of cells distribution, the total number and the mean square displacement of cells along the x-axis with different involved parameters, especially with the fractional parameter evolution, are shown graphically and analyzed in detail. For the cells distribution versus x, it turns from parabolic and hyperbolic with the decrease in t or the increase in \(\alpha \) or \(\xi \). It is monotonically decreasing for the cells distribution versus \(\alpha \) with different x, t and \(\xi \). For the distribution versus t with different \(\alpha \) and \(\xi \) or versus \(\alpha \) with different t, it is monotonically decreasing for the distribution of total number while monotonically increasing for the distribution of mean square displacement. It is remarkable that the anomalous subdiffusion happens along the x-axis for arbitrary parameters which is different from the classical Cattaneo diffusion.     

A novel approach for generating multi-direction multi-double-scroll attractors

Attention is focused in this work on quasiperiodic motion of nonlinear systems whose spectrum contains uniformly spaced sideband frequencies with a distance \(\omega _{d}\) apart, around a frequency \(\omega \) with \(\omega \gg \omega _{d}\) and its integer multiples, which are referred to as carrier frequencies. The ratio of the two frequencies \(\omega \) and \(\omega _{d}\) is an irrational number. A new method based on the traditional incremental harmonic balance (IHB) method with multiple timescales, referred to as Lau method, where two timescales, \(\tau _{1}=\omega t\) (a fast timescale) and \(\tau _{2}=\omega _{d}t\) (a slow timescale), are introduced, is presented to analyze quasiperiodic motion of nonlinear systems. An amplitude increment algorithm is adapted to deal with cases where the two frequencies \(\omega \) and \(\omega _{d}\) are    unknown a priori, in order to automatically trace frequency response of quasiperiodic motion of nonlinear systems and accurately calculate all frequency components and their corresponding amplitudes. Results of application of the present IHB method to quasiperiodic free vibration of a hinged–clamped beam with internal resonance between two transverse modes are shown and compared with previously published results with Lau method and those from numerical integration. While differences are noted between results predicted by the present IHB method and Lau method, excellent agreement is achieved between results from the present IHB method and numerical integration even in cases of strongly nonlinear vibration. The present IHB method is also used to analyze quasiperiodic free vibration of high-dimensional models of the hinged–clamped beam.     

Long-time Dynamics of Resonant Weakly Nonlinear CGL Equations

Consider a weakly nonlinear CGL equation on the torus \(\mathbb {T}^d\):

$$\begin{aligned} u_t+i\Delta u=\epsilon [\mu (-1)^{m-1}\Delta ^{m} u+b|u|^{2p}u+ ic|u|^{2q}u]. \end{aligned}$$

(*)

Here \(u=u(t,x)\), \(x\in \mathbb {T}^d\), \(0<\epsilon <<1\), \(\mu \geqslant 0\), \(b,c\in \mathbb {R}\) and \(m,p,q\in \mathbb {N}\). Define \(I(u)=(I_{\mathbf {k}},\mathbf {k}\in \mathbb {Z}^d)\), where \(I_{\mathbf {k}}=v_{\mathbf {k}}\bar{v}_{\mathbf {k}}/2\) and \(v_{\mathbf {k}}\), \(\mathbf {k}\in \mathbb {Z}^d\), are the Fourier coefficients of the function \(u\) we give. Assume that the equation \((*)\) is well posed on time intervals of order \(\epsilon ^{-1}\) and its solutions have there a-priori bounds, independent of the small parameter. Let \(u(t,x)\) solve the equation \((*)\). If \(\epsilon \) is small enough, then for \(t\lesssim {\epsilon ^{-1}}\), the quantity \(I(u(t,x))\) can be well described by solutions of an effective equation:

$$\begin{aligned} u_t=\epsilon [\mu (-1)^{m-1}\Delta ^m u+ F(u)], \end{aligned}$$

where the term \(F(u)\) can be constructed through a kind of resonant averaging of the nonlinearity \(b|u|^{2p}+ ic|u|^{2q}u\).

     

Displacement and Dissolution Characteristics of CO$$_{}$$/Brine System in Unconsolidated Porous Media

This study investigated the dynamic displacement and dissolution of \(\hbox {CO}_{2}\) in porous media at 313 K and 6/8 MPa. Gaseous (\(\hbox {gCO}_{2}\)) at 6 MPa and supercritical \(\hbox {CO}_{2 }(\hbox {scCO}_{2}) \) at 8 MPa were injected downward into a glass bead pack at different flow rates, following upwards brine injection. The processes occurring during \(\hbox {CO}_{2}\) drainage and brine imbibition were visualized using magnetic resonance imaging. The drainage flow fronts were strongly influenced by the flow rates, resulting in different gas distributions. However, brine imbibition proceeded as a vertical compacted front due to the strong effect of gravity. Additionally, the effects of flow rate on distribution and saturation were analyzed. Then, the front movement of \(\hbox {CO}_{2}\) dissolution was visualized along different paths after imbibition. The determined \(\hbox {CO}_{2}\) concentrations implied that little \(\hbox {scCO}_{2}\) dissolved in brine after imbibition. The dissolution rate was from \(10^{-8}\) to \(10^{-9}\, \hbox {kg}\, \hbox {m}^{-3} \, \hbox {s}^{-1}\) and from \(10^{-6}\) to \(10^{-8}\, \hbox {kg}\, \hbox {m}^{-3} \, \hbox {s}^{-1}\) for \(\hbox {gCO}_{2}\) at 6 MPa and \(\hbox {scCO}_{2 }\) at 8 MPa, respectively. The total time for the \(\hbox {scCO}_{2}\) dissolution was short, indicating fast mass transfer between the \(\hbox {CO}_{2}\) and brine. Injection of \(\hbox {CO}_{2}\) under supercritical conditions resulted in a quick establishment of a steady state with high storage safety.     

Effects of Particle Size Non-Uniformity on Transport and Retention in Saturated Porous Media

Short-pulse injection experiments are investigated to study the effects of particle size non-uniformity on the transport and retention in saturated porous media. Monodisperse particles (3, 10, and 16 \(\upmu \hbox {m}\) latex microspheres) and polydisperse particles (containing 3, 10, and 16 latex microspheres) were explored. The obtained results suggest considering not only the particle sizes but also their polydispersivity (particle size non-uniformity) in transport and retention. Although, the density of the suspended particles is close to that of water, results reveal a slow transport of particles compared to the dissolved tracer whatever their size and flow velocity. The recovered particles in the mixture experiments show that the retention of large particles (10 and 16 \(\upmu \hbox {m}\)) enhances the retention of small ones (3 \(\upmu \hbox {m}\)). However, the straining of 10 and 16 \(\upmu \hbox {m}\) particles in “mixture experiments” is smaller than their straining in “monodisperse experiments”. A linear relationship summarizing the simultaneous effect of particle sizes and flow velocity on deposition kinetics coefficient is proposed.     

Spiky Steady States of a Chemotaxis System with Singular Sensitivity

This paper is concerned with the steady state problem of a chemotaxis model with singular sensitivity function in a one dimensional spatial domain. Using the chemotactic coefficient \(\chi \) as the bifurcation parameter, we perform local and global bifurcation analysis for the model. It is shown that positive monotone steady states exist as long as \(\chi \) is larger than the first bifurcation value \(\bar{\chi }_1.\) We further obtain asymptotic profiles of these steady states, as \(\chi \) becomes large. In particular, our results show that the cell density function forms a spike, which models the important physical phenomenon of cell aggregation.     

New Derived from Anosov Diffeomorphisms with Pathological Center Foliation

In this paper we focused our study on derived from Anosov diffeomorphisms (DA diffeomorphisms ) of the torus \(\mathbb {T}^3,\) it is, an absolute partially hyperbolic diffeomorphism on \(\mathbb {T}^3\) homotopic to a linear Anosov automorphism of the \(\mathbb {T}^3.\) We can prove that if \(f: \mathbb {T}^3 \rightarrow \mathbb {T}^3 \) is a volume preserving DA diffeomorphism homotopic to a linear Anosov A,  such that the center Lyapunov exponent satisfies \(\lambda ^c_f(x) > \lambda ^c_A > 0,\) with x belongs to a positive volume set, then the center foliation of f is non absolutely continuous. We construct a new open class U of non Anosov and volume preserving DA diffeomorphisms, satisfying the property \(\lambda ^c_f(x) > \lambda ^c_A > 0\) for \(m-\)almost everywhere \(x \in \mathbb {T}^3.\) Particularly for every \(f \in U,\) the center foliation of f is non absolutely continuous.     

Bifurcations of a creeping air–water flow in a conical container

This numerical study describes the eddy emergence and transformations in a slow steady axisymmetric air–water flow, driven by a rotating top disk in a vertical conical container. As water height \(H_{\mathrm{w}}\) and cone half-angle \(\beta \) vary, numerous flow metamorphoses occur. They are investigated for \(\beta =30^{\circ }, 45^{\circ }\), and \(60^{\circ }\). For small \(H_{\mathrm{w}}\), the air flow is multi-cellular with clockwise meridional circulation near the disk. The air flow becomes one cellular as \(H_{\mathrm{w}}\) exceeds a threshold depending on \(\beta \). For all \(\beta \), the water flow has an unbounded number of eddies whose size and strength diminish as the cone apex is approached. As the water level becomes close to the disk, the outmost water eddy with clockwise meridional circulation expands, reaches the interface, and induces a thin layer with anticlockwise circulation in the air. Then this layer expands and occupies the entire air domain. The physical reasons for the flow transformations are provided. The results are of fundamental interest and can be relevant for aerial bioreactors.