Analysis of coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical behavior of unsaturated soils based on theory of mixtures I

This paper analyzes a coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical behavior of unsaturated soils based on the theory of mixtures. Unsaturated soil is considered as a mixture composed of soil skeleton, liquid water, vapor, dry air, and dissolved air. In addition to the mass and momentum conservation equations of each component and the energy conservation equation of the mixture, the system is closed using other 37 constitutive （or restriction） equations. As the change in water chemical potential is identical to the change in vapor chemical potential, a thermodynamic restriction relationship for the phase transition between pore water and pore vapor is formulated, in which the impact of the change in gas pressure on the phase transition is taken into account. Six final govern- ing equations are given in incremental form in terms of six primary variables, i.e., three displacement components of soil skeleton, water pressure, gas pressure, and temperature. The processes involved in the coupled model include thermal expansions of soil skeleton and soil particle, Soret effect, phase transition between water and vapor, air dissolution in pore water, and deformation of soil skeleton.     

储层含水条件下致密砂岩/页岩无机质纳米孔隙气相渗透率模型

页岩及致密砂岩储层富含纳米级孔隙,且储层条件下页岩孔隙(尤其无机质孔隙)及致密砂岩孔隙普遍含水,因此含水条件下纳米孔隙气体的流动能力的评价对这两类气藏的产能分析及生产预测具有重要意义.本文首先基于纳米孔隙内液态水及汽态水热力学平衡理论,量化了储层孔隙含水饱和度分布特征;进一步在纳米孔隙单相气体传质理论的基础上,考虑了孔隙含水饱和度对气体流动的影响;最终建立了含水饱和度与气相渗透率的关系曲线. 基于本文岩心孔隙分布特征,计算结果表明:储层含水饱和度对气体流动能力的影响不容忽视,在储层含水饱和度20%的情况下,气相流动能力与干燥情况相比将降低约10%;在含水饱和度40% 的情况下,气相流动能力将降低约20%.      

Effect of Interphase Heat Transfer on the Stability of a Turbulent Multicomponent Flow in a Vortex

The parameters of an axisymmetric turbulent two-phase swirling flow of a viscous heat-conducting gas containing a liquid dispersed phase in the presence of water vapor condensation on the particles are calculated. For the dispersed phase, a model taking into account the variation of the vapor concentration and the particle size due to condensation or evaporation is proposed. The distributions of the parameters of the basic unperturbed flow obtained numerically are used in the numerical solution of the linear problem of hydrodynamic stability within the time-dependent formulation. The parameters of small-amplitude harmonic perturbations propagating along the vortex axis are investigated in the linear formulation. A significant effect of heat release in the gas due to water vapor condensation on the parameters of the neutral perturbations and the neutral-stability curves is detected.     

The influence of thermodynamic gas parameters on laser-induced bubble dynamics in water

The oscillating properties of laser-induced cavitation bubbles in water are investigated by means of a fiber-optic sensor based on optical beam deflection. The experimental results show two important points. One is that the smaller the bubble radius the more quickly the bubble surface moves. Thus, the variations of the temperature and the pressure inside the bubble will be close to those of an adiabatic process. The other is that the high-energy vapor inside the newborn bubble diffuses and coagulates rapidly through violent expansion and thermal conduction. Thus, the gas content of the bubble reduces significantly in the first oscillation. Numerical simulation is made for the bubble model with consideration of liquid viscosity, surface tension, and gas content. Through modification of the polytropic index and the gas content parameter, two parameters of this model, the numerical results fit the experimental results well.     

Drying Rate Measurements in Convection- and Diffusion-Driven Conditions on a Shaly Sandstone Using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is one of the solutions studied to reduce greenhouse gas accumulation in the atmosphere. Depleted oil and gas reservoirs have been studied for potential storage sites but also saline aquifers that have the advantages of much larger pore volume. In this latter case, injection of large volume of anhydrous carbon dioxide will lead to a strong water desaturation of the near wellbore region because of evaporation mechanisms. Even the capillary trapped water can be removed by thermodynamical transfer of water vapor in the CO₂ phase. The extension in time and space of the dry zone will be controlled by the drying rate induced by the gas flow. Consequences of drying may induce alteration of the injectivity by salt precipitation and/or alteration of the rock fabric itself, especially for shaly sandstones in the case of clay drying. The context of CCS has raised new interests in the understanding of drying kinetic where the water vapor is evacuated by gas convection. In this study, we investigated experimentally the drying rate evolution with time on a shaly sandstone sample in two conditions of drying: convective and diffusive. In convective conditions, air is injected at different flow rates through the porous media in conditions of drying representative of a CO₂ injection site at one million ton per year. In diffusive conditions, no flow is imposed and the water vapor escape by diffusion. Drying rates dynamics in both conditions were measured by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and compared. We varied the temperature and the salinity in diffusive-driven drying and the gas flow rate in convective-driven drying. The water distribution in the pore network and the water saturation profiles were monitored continuously using T₂ relaxation and 1D imaging NMR techniques. For the range of temperature and air flow rate used, we show that drying rates in the two drying conditions are similar but not identical. They both present different periods characteristic of the main mechanisms for water mass transfer. Drying rate has a power law dependence on the temperature, as predicted by thermodynamic, and drying rate was found proportional to the flow rate in convective drying. Presence of salt has a complex effect: an increase of the drying rate at early stage of drying followed by a strong decrease for the remaining time of drying.     

Method for calculating the dynamics of vapor bubbles when a liquid boils in a centrifugal force field

The specific feature of the study of the dynamics of vapor bubbles during boiling of a liquid in a centrifugal force field is the fact that the velocity of a bubble is much greater than the rate of change of its radius, and its movement occurs in fields of variable pressure and underheating that have to be determined in the solution of the problem. In addition, when investigating processes occurring when liquid helium boils in a centrifugal force field, its thermodynamic parameters may be close to the critical values, and the dependences of the thermophysical properties of the liquid and vapor on the temperature and pressure must be taken into consideration. The equation of state of a substance close to its critical thermodynamic point cannot be an approximation to the equation of state of an ideal gas, as has been suggested in a series of articles. The nonequilibrium nature of the phase transition must be taken into consideration in the case of substances existing at near-critical parameters and substances with a low coefficient of accommodation. A marked deformation of the bubbles, which also has to be taken into account, will be observed in strong centrifugal force fields. Such studies have not appeared in the specialist journals. Equations of the two-temperature and two-velocity hydrodynamics of two-phase media in a one-dimensional form for substances obeying the equation of state for an ideal gas were discussed in [1, 2] with allowance for the dependence of the thermophysical properties on the temperature and pressure. In strong centrifugal force fields the one-dimensional approach is unacceptable and the flow of liquid around a buoyant bubble must be taken into account. A joint examination of the change in the temperature field with time in the vicinity of a vapor bubble with changes in its dimensions and position was made for the first time in [3–8]. The present article is an extension of the latter work and takes the aforementioned factors into account.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 4, pp. 66–71, July–August, 1984.     

Bubbles in liquids with phase transition

In the forthcoming second part of this paper a system of balance laws for a multi-phase mixture with many dispersed bubbles in liquid is derived where phase transition is taken into account. The exchange terms for mass, momentum and energy explicitly depend on evolution laws for total mass, radius and temperature of single bubbles. Therefore in the current paper we consider a single bubble of vapor and inert gas surrounded by the corresponding liquid phase. The creation of bubbles, e.g. by nucleation is not taken into account. We study the behavior of this bubble due to condensation and evaporation at the interface. The aim is to find evolution laws for total mass, radius and temperature of the bubble, which should be as simple as possible but consider all relevant physical effects. Special attention is given to the effects of surface tension and heat production on the bubble dynamics as well as the propagation of acoustic elastic waves by including slight compressibility of the liquid phase. Separately we study the influence of the three phenomena heat conduction, elastic waves and phase transition on the evolution of the bubble. We find ordinary differential equations that describe the bubble dynamics. It turns out that the elastic waves in the liquid are of greatest importance to the dynamics of the bubble radius. The phase transition has a strong influence on the evolution of the temperature, in particular at the interface. Furthermore the phase transition leads to a drastic change of the water content in the bubble. It is shown that a rebounding bubble is only possible, if it contains in addition an inert gas. In Part 2 of the current paper the equations derived are sought in order to close the system of equations for multi-phase mixture balance laws for dispersed bubbles in liquids involving phase change.     

Molecular dynamics study of the liquid-vapor interface of lithium bromide aqueous solutions

The molecular dynamics simulations of the liquid–vapor interface of LiBr aqueous solutions were carried out to investigate the structural and thermophysical properties. As concerns the structural properties, the results of molecular dynamics simulation show that the ions exist in the liquid apart from the surface and this tendency becomes strong as the solute concentration is lowered. This phenomenon is due to the desorption of ion. The calculated values such as density or surface tension agree with experimental ones. As concerns thermophysical properties, the number of water molecules in the bulk gas decreases with an increase of the solute concentration. This result represents the depression of vapor pressure. In addition, in order to investigate the dynamic process of water vapor absorption into LiBr aqueous solution, the molecular dynamics simulation under non-equilibrium condition was carried out. The results show that when the solute concentration is low and the temperature is also low, almost all incident water molecules become trapped at the solution surface and then easily diffuse into the bulk liquid, and when the solute concentration is high and temperature is also high, most incident water molecules become trapped at the solution surface, and the sequent processes are very complicated. Received on 28 September 1998     

Dynamics of Flow Through Porous Media with Unsteady Phase Permeabilities

The influence of nonequilibrium effects developing due to the formation of an emulsion of each phase (gas bubbles in the water and water dust in the gas) on the flow dynamics is investigated with reference to the displacement of water by a gas. The nonequilibrium effects manifest themselves in a change in the shape of the phase permeability curves (they become convex) and the threshold phase saturations in the course of flow through the porous medium. A kinetic equation in which the relaxation time is proportional to the seepage rate is used to describe such effects. The case in which the liquid displaced by the gas is itself gassed and the volume concentration of the gas bubbles is constant is considered.     

A two-phase boundary-layer model for laminar mixed-convection condensation with a noncondensable gas on inclined plates

A finite-volume-based numerical model for mixed-convection laminar film condensation from a flowing mixture of a vapor and a heavier noncondensable gas on inclined isothermal flat plates is presented. The full boundary layer equations for the liquid film and the vapor-gas mixtures (including liquid inertia and energy convection terms) are solved implicitly with appropriate liquid-mixture interface conditions. Results were obtained for three mixtures, covering wide ranges of liquid Prandtl number and free-stream gas concentration in the forced-convection, mixed-convection and free-convection flow regimes. The effects of liquid inertia were found to be significant only for low-Prandtl-number fluids and lower gas concentrations. The effects of liquid energy convection were found to be significant only for high-Prandtl-number fluids and to be most significant for mixed-convection condensation. Received on 3 March 1998     

Closure conditions for non-equilibrium multi-component models

A class of non-equilibrium models for compressible multi-component fluids in multi-dimensions is investigated taking into account viscosity and heat conduction. These models are subject to the choice of interfacial pressures and interfacial velocity as well as relaxation terms for velocity, pressure, temperature and chemical potentials. Sufficient conditions are derived for these quantities that ensure meaningful physical properties such as a non-negative entropy production, thermodynamical stability, Galilean invariance and mathematical properties such as hyperbolicity, subcharacteristic property and existence of an entropy–entropy flux pair. For the relaxation of chemical potentials, a two-component and a three-component models for vapor–water and gas–water–vapor, respectively, are considered.     

Phase Transitions in Flow through a Heat-Conducting Porous Skeleton

The features of one-dimensional seepage flows of a medium in the form of a liquid, vapor, or liquid-vapor mixture are considered. It is assumed that the temperatures of the medium and the porous skeleton through which it flows are determined both by the heat-conduction processes in the skeleton and the medium and by the phase transitions of the medium (evaporation or condensation). The phase transition fronts and their structure are investigated for a pure medium, i.e., a liquid or vapor but not a mixture, no at least one side of the front. Moreover, the possible existence of a form of flow, not considered earlier, in which in a certain region of space the thermodynamic state of the particles belongs to the phase transition interface between the pure state and the mixture. The flows are considered in general form without specifying the properties of the medium.     

The concept of in-situ vapor stripping for removing VOCs from groundwater

An in-situ remediation procedure is proposed to remove Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) dissolved in groundwater. This is accomplished by injecton of air into a well, using a combined technique of air-lift pumping with a form of vapor stripping. When air is injected into a well, it causes water to be lifted and forces groundwater flow towards the well, creating a recirculating cleanup zone. During this process, VOCs are transferred from the contaminated water to the rising air bubbles inside the well. The air bubbles are separated from the liquid near the top of the well, and the VOC vapor is collected and treated. In this system, water is not permitted to be lifted to the ground surface. Rather, the water is diverted into the unsaturated zone through a series of drains that are installed beneath the root-zone. The water then, free of a portion of VOCs, infiltrates back to the water table. As water continues to circulate, the VOC concentrations are gradually reduced.The feasibility of the proposed method was analyzed using concepts of mass transfer of VOCs from water to air-bubbles. Calculations indicate that the method has promise because equilibrium partitioning between the contaminated liquid and the gas bubbles is rapidly established.     

The effects of rate of expansion and injection of water droplets on the entropy generation of nucleating steam flow in a Laval nozzle

The entropy generation due to irreversible heat transfer between vapor and liquid phases in a nucleating steam flow in a Laval nozzle is studied. To calculate the entropy generation due to self-condensation in transonic steam flow, a thermodynamic model is presented. The calculations of nucleating steam flow and the predictions of entropy generation rely on one-dimensional two-phase model. This model shows that the most of the thermodynamic losses take place during the nucleation phenomena. The effect of rate of expansion on the exergy losses is considered by decreasing the divergent angle of nozzle. Also micro-sized pure water droplets is injected theoretically to supercooled steam right after the nozzle throat at the onset of divergent section and the effects of injected droplets on thermodynamic losses and nucleation phenomena are investigated. The results indicate that decreasing the divergent angle and also injection of droplets diminishes the pressure rise in transonic steam flow and decreases the thermal entropy generation due to nucleation.     

Effect of vapor condensation on forced convection heat transfer of moistened gas

The forced convection heat transfer with water vapor condensation is studied both theoretically and experimentally when wet flue gas passes downwards through a bank of horizontal tubes. Extraordinarily, discussions are concentrated on the effect of water vapor condensation on forced convection heat transfer. In the experiments, the air–steam mixture is used to simulate the flue gas of a natural gas fired boiler, and the vapor mass fraction ranges from 3.2 to 12.8%. By theoretical analysis, a new dimensionless number defined as augmentation factor is derived to account for the effect of condensation of relatively small amount of water vapor on convection heat transfer, and a consequent correlation is proposed based on the experimental data to describe the combined convection–condensation heat transfer. Good agreement can be found between the values of the Nusselt number obtained from the experiments and calculated by the correlation. The maximum deviation is within ±6%. The experimental results also shows that the convection–condensation heat transfer coefficient increases with Reynolds number and bulk vapor mass fraction, and is 1∼3.5 times that of the forced convection without condensation.