Steady convection in a porous medium based upon the Brinkman model

A theoretical study of the problem of steady convection throughporous media, based upon the Brinkman model, is presented. Avariational formulation is introduced to deal with the weaksolution. The existence of a weak solution and some uniquenessand regularity results are discussed.     

Explicit analytical solutions of the anisotropic Brinkman model for the natural convection in porous media

Some algebraically explicit analytical solutions are derived for the anisotropic Brinkman model-an improved Darcy model-describing the natural convection in porous media. Besides their important theoretical meaning (for example, to analyze the non-Darcy and anisotropic effects on the convection), such analytical solutions can be the benchmark solutions to promoting the development of computational heat and mass transfer. For instance, we can use them to check the accuracy, convergence and effectiveness of various numerical computational methods and to improve numerical calculation skills such as differential schemes and grid generation ways.     

Non‐linear stability and convection for laminar flows in a porous medium with Brinkman law

The non‐linear stability of plane parallel shear flows in an incompressible homogeneous fluid heated from below and saturating a porous medium is studied by the Lyapunov direct method.In the Oberbeck–Boussinesq–Brinkman (OBB) scheme, if the inertial terms are negligible, as it is widely assumed in literature, we find global non‐linear exponential stability (GNES) independent of the Reynolds number R. However, if these terms are retained, we find a restriction on R (depending on the inertial convective coefficient) both for a homogeneous fluid and a mixture heated and salted from below. In the case of a mixture, when the normalized porosity ε is equal to one, the laminar flows are GNES for small R and for heat Rayleigh numbers less than the critical Rayleigh numbers obtained for the motionless state. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Preconditioning techniques for a mixed Stokes/Darcy model in porous media applications

We study numerical methods for a mixed Stokes/Darcy model in porous media applications. The global model is composed of two different submodels in a fluid region and a porous media region, coupled through a set of interface conditions. The weak formulation of the coupled model is of a saddle point type. The mixed finite element discretization applied to the saddle point problem leads to a coupled, indefinite, and nonsymmetric linear system of algebraic equations. We apply the preconditioned GMRES method to solve the discrete system and are particularly interested in efficient and effective decoupled preconditioning techniques. Several decoupled preconditioners are proposed. Theoretical analysis and numerical experiments show the effectiveness and efficiency of the preconditioners. Effects of physical parameters on the convergence performance are also investigated.     

Analysis of a pseudostress-based mixed finite element method for the Brinkman model of porous media flow

In this paper we introduce and analyze a new mixed finite element method for the two-dimensional Brinkman model of porous media flow with mixed boundary conditions. We use a dual-mixed formulation in which the main unknown is given by the pseudostress. The original velocity and pressure unknowns are easily recovered through a simple postprocessing. In addition, since the Neumann boundary condition becomes essential, we impose it in a weak sense, which yields the introduction of the trace of the fluid velocity over the Neumann boundary as the associated Lagrange multiplier. We apply the Babu?ka–Brezzi theory to establish sufficient conditions for the well-posedness of the resulting continuous and discrete formulations. In particular, a feasible choice of finite element subspaces is given by Raviart–Thomas elements of order $k \ge 0$ for the pseudostress, and continuous piecewise polynomials of degree $k + 1$ for the Lagrange multiplier. We also derive a reliable and efficient residual-based a posteriori error estimator for this problem. Suitable auxiliary problems, the continuous inf-sup conditions satisfied by the bilinear forms involved, a discrete Helmholtz decomposition, and the local approximation properties of the Raviart–Thomas and Clément interpolation operators are the main tools for proving the reliability. Then, Helmholtz’s decomposition, inverse inequalities, and the localization technique based on triangle-bubble and edge-bubble functions are employed to show the efficiency. Finally, several numerical results illustrating the performance and the robustness of the method, confirming the theoretical properties of the estimator, and showing the behaviour of the associated adaptive algorithm, are provided.     

Analysis and finite element approximation of a coupled,continuum pipe‐flow/Darcy model for flow in porous media with embedded conduits

We consider the continuum Darcy/pipe flow model for flows in a porous matrix containing embedded conduits; such coupled flows are present in, e.g., karst aquifers. The mathematical well‐posedness of the coupled problem as well as convergence rates of finite element approximation are established in the two‐dimensional case. Computational results are also provided. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 27: 1242–1252, 2011     

Double diffusive convection in porous media under the action of a magnetic field

The onset of thermal convection in an electrically conducting fluid saturating a porous medium, uniformly heated from below, salted by one chemical and embedded in an external transverse magnetic field is analyzed. The critical Rayleigh thermal numbers at which steady and Hopf convection can occur, are determined. Sufficient conditions guaranteeing the effective onset of convection via steady or oscillatory state are provided.

     

Effect of rotation on the onset of double diffusive convection in a Darcy porous medium saturated with a couple stress fluid

The effect of rotation on the onset of double diffusive convection in a horizontal couple stress fluid-saturated porous layer, which is heated and salted from below, is studied analytically using both linear and weak nonlinear stability analyses. The extended Darcy model, which includes the time derivative and Coriolis terms, has been employed in the momentum equation. The onset criterion for stationary, oscillatory and finite amplitude convection is derived analytically. The effect of Taylor number, couple stress parameter, solute Rayleigh number, Lewis number, Darcy–Prandtl number, and normalized porosity on the stationary, oscillatory, and finite amplitude convection is shown graphically. It is found that the rotation, couple stress parameter and solute Rayleigh number have stabilizing effect on the stationary, oscillatory, and finite amplitude convection. The Lewis number has a stabilizing effect in the case of stationary and finite amplitude modes, with a destabilizing effect in the case of oscillatory convection. The Darcy–Prandtl number and normalized porosity advances the onset of oscillatory convection. A weak nonlinear theory based on the truncated representation of Fourier series method is used to find the finite amplitude Rayleigh number and heat and mass transfer. The transient behavior of the Nusselt number and Sherwood number is investigated by solving the finite amplitude equations using Runge–Kutta method.     

Integral representation of a solution to the Stokes–Darcy problem

With methods of potential theory, we develop a representation of a solution of the coupled Stokes–Darcy model in a Lipschitz domain for boundary data in H^?1/2. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Homogenization of a three-phase flow model in porous media

We give homogenization results for an immiscible and incompressible three-phase flow model in a heterogeneous petroleum reservoir with periodic structure, including capillary effects. We consider a model which leads to a coupled system of partial differential equations which includes an elliptic equation and two nonlinear degenerate parabolic equations of convection–diffusion types. Using two-scale convergence, we get an homogenized model which governs the global behavior of the flow. The determination of effective properties require the numerical resolution of local problems in a standard cell.     

Parameter-dependent systems on the half-line and free convection boundary-layers in porous media

In this paper we use a recently elaborated abstract method, for parameter-dependent ODE systems over the interval (0, ∞), to obtain existence results for the problem of self-similar solutions in boundary-layer free convection in porous media. Using a generalization of the method to exponentially decaying solutions, we are able to recover some known results, and to obtain a new branch of solutions in the case of the so-called backward boundary-layer. The arguments involve the derivation of suitable a priori estimates for the solutions of the problem.     

Conformal symmetric model of the porous media

We present a conformal theory for the random fractal fields. As an example, the density of the porous matter is considered. The equation that expresses density in terms of a nonfractal field is evaluated. Assuming the hypothesis of scale and conformal symmetry for the latter, we derive the correlation functions for density. The log-normal conformal model is studied.     

Some properties of the solution of a filtration problem in partially saturated porous media

A filtration problem with second initial-boundary value in partially saturated porous media is considered, In addition to discussion of the existence and uniqueness of weak solution of the problem, it is demonstrated that the interface between the saturated and unsaturated regions exists and continues under certain conditions and the solution possesses some properties, e.g., the balance of water content, the time-limit existence of weak solution ect. which differ from those of the solutions of the first initial-boundary value problem.     

Influence of variable heat flux on natural convection along a corrugated wall in porous media

In this work the coupled non-linear partial differential equations, governing the free convection from a wavy vertical wall under a power law heat flux condition, are solved numerically. For both Darcy and Forchheimer extended non-Darcy models, a wavy to flat surface transformation is applied and the governing equations are reduced to boundary layer equations. A finite difference scheme based on the Keller Box approach has been used in conjunction with a block tri-diagonal solver for obtaining the solution. Detailed simulations are carried out to investigate the effect of varying parameters such as power law heat flux exponent m, wavelength–amplitude ratio a and the transformed Grashof number Gr′. Both surface undulations and inertial forces increase the temperature of the vertical surface while increasing m reduces it. The wavy pattern observed in surface temperature plots, become more prominent with increasing m or a but reduces as Gr′ increases.     

Structural stability for the Brinkman equations of flow in double diffusive convection

This paper continues the investigation of structural stability for the Brinkman equations modeling the double diffusive convection for flow in a porous medium. It supplements earlier results of Straughan and Hutter [B. Straughan, K. Hutter, A priori bounds and structural stability for double diffusive convection incorporating the Soret effect, Proc. R. Soc. Lond. Ser. A 455 (1999) 767-777].