Analysis of hydrodynamic and thermal dispersion in porous media by means of a local approach

A pore scale analysis is implemented in this numerical study to investigate the behavior of microscopic inertia and thermal dispersion in a porous medium with a periodic structure. The macroscopic characteristics of the transport phenomena are evaluated with an averaging technique of the controlling variables at a pore scale level in an elementary cell of the porous structure. The Darcy–Forchheimer model describes the fluid motion through the porous medium while the continuity and Navier–Stokes equations are applied within the unit cell. An average energy equation is employed for the thermal part of the porous medium. The macroscopic pressure loss is computed in order to evaluate the dominant microscopic inertial effects. Local fluctuations of velocity and temperature at the pore scale are instrumental in the quantification of the thermal dispersion through the total effective thermal diffusivity. The numerical results demonstrate that microscopic inertia contributes significantly to the magnitude of the macroscopic pressure loss, in some instances with as much as 70%. Depending on the nature of the porous medium, the thermal dispersion may have a marked bearing on the heat transfer, particularly in the streamwise direction for a highly conducting fluid and certain values of the Peclet number.     

Large Eddy Simulations Using the Subgrid-Scale Estimation Model and Truncated Navier–Stokes Dynamics

We describe a procedure for large eddy simulations of turbulence which uses the subgrid-scale estimation model and truncated Navier–Stokes dynamics. In the procedure the large eddy simulation equations are advanced in time with the subgrid-scale stress tensor calculated from the parallel solution of the truncated Navier–Stokes equations on a mesh two times smaller in each Cartesian direction than the mesh employed for a discretization of the resolved quantities. The truncated Navier–Stokes equations are solved through a sequence of runs, each initialized using the subgrid-scale estimation model. The modeling procedure is evaluated by comparing results of large eddy simulations for isotropic turbulence and turbulent channel flow with the corresponding results of experiments, theory, direct numerical simulations, and other large eddy simulations. Subsequently, simplifications of the general procedure are discussed and evaluated. In particular, it is possible to formulate the procedure entirely in terms of the truncated Navier–Stokes equation and a periodic processing of the small-scale component of its solution. Received 27 April 2001 and accepted 16 December 2001     

Asymptotic Behavior of Solutions to the Compressible Navier–Stokes Equation Around a Parallel Flow

The initial boundary value problem for the compressible Navier–Stokes equation is considered in an infinite layer of . It is proved that if the Reynolds and Mach numbers are sufficiently small, then strong solutions to the compressible Navier–Stokes equation around parallel flows exist globally in time for sufficiently small initial perturbations. The large time behavior of the solution is described by a solution of a one-dimensional viscous Burgers equation. The proof is given by a combination of spectral analysis of the linearized operator and a variant of the Matsumura–Nishida energy method.     

Navier–Stokes Equations with Navier Boundary Conditions for an Oceanic Model

We consider the Navier–Stokes equations in a thin domain of which the top and bottom surfaces are not flat. The velocity fields are subject to the Navier conditions on those boundaries and the periodicity condition on the other sides of the domain. This toy model arises from studies of climate and oceanic flows. We show that the strong solutions exist for all time provided the initial data belong to a “large” set in the Sobolev space H ¹. Furthermore we show, for both the autonomous and the nonautonomous problems, the existence of a global attractor for the class of all strong solutions. This attractor is proved to be also the global attractor for the Leray–Hopf weak solutions of the Navier–Stokes equations. One issue that arises here is a nontrivial contribution due to the boundary terms. We show how the boundary conditions imposed on the velocity fields affect the estimates of the Stokes operator and the (nonlinear) inertial term in the Navier–Stokes equations. This results in a new estimate of the trilinear term, which in turn permits a short and simple proof of the existence of strong solutions for all time.     

Determining modes and Grashof number in 2D turbulence: a numerical case study

We study how the number of numerically determining modes in the Navier–Stokes equations depends on the Grashof number. Consider the two-dimensional incompressible Navier–Stokes equations in a periodic domain with a fixed time-independent forcing function. We increase the Grashof number by rescaling the forcing and observe through numerical computation that the number of numerically determining modes stabilizes at some finite value as the Grashof number increases. This unexpected result implies that our theoretical understanding of continuous data assimilation is incomplete until an analytic proof which makes use of the non-linear term in the Navier–Stokes equations is found.      

Polynomial Filtration Laws for Low Reynolds Number Flows Through Porous Media

In this study, we use the method of homogenization to develop a filtration law in porous media that includes the effects of inertia at finite Reynolds numbers. The result is much different than the empirically observed quadratic Forchheimer equation. First, the correction to Darcy’s law is initially cubic (not quadratic) for isotropic media. This is consistent with several other authors (Mei and Auriault, J Fluid Mech 222:647–663, 1991; Wodié and Levy, CR Acad Sci Paris t.312:157–161, 1991; Couland et al. J Fluid Mech 190:393–407, 1988; Rojas and Koplik, Phys Rev 58:4776–4782, 1988) who have solved the Navier–Stokes equations analytically and numerically. Second, the resulting filtration model is an infinite series polynomial in velocity, instead of a single corrective term to Darcy’s law. Although the model is only valid up to the local Reynolds number, at the most, of order 1, the findings are important from a fundamental perspective because it shows that the often-used quadratic Forchheimer equation is not a universal law for laminar flow, but rather an empirical one that is useful in a limited range of velocities. Moreover, as stated by Mei and Auriault (J Fluid Mech 222:647–663, 1991) and Barree and Conway (SPE Annual technical conference and exhibition, 2004), even if the quadratic model were valid at moderate Reynolds numbers in the laminar flow regime, then the permeability extrapolated on a Forchheimer plot would not be the intrinsic Darcy permeability. A major contribution of this study is that the coefficients of the polynomial law can be derived a priori, by solving sequential Stokes problems. In each case, the solution to the Stokes problem is used to calculate a coefficient in the polynomial, and the velocity field is an input of the forcing function, F, to subsequent problems. While numerical solutions must be utilized to compute each coefficient in the polynomial, these problems are much simpler and robust than solving the full Navier–Stokes equations.     

Optimizing multifunctional materials: Design of microstructures for maximized stiffness and fluid permeability

Topology optimization is used to systematically design periodic materials that are optimized for multiple properties and prescribed symmetries. In particular, mechanical stiffness and fluid transport are considered. The base cell of the periodic material serves as the design domain and the goal is to determine the optimal distribution of material phases within this domain. Effective properties of the material are computed from finite element analyses of the base cell using numerical homogenization techniques. The elasticity and fluid flow inverse homogenization design problems are formulated and existing techniques for overcoming associated numerical instabilities and difficulties are discussed. These modules are then combined and solved to maximize bulk modulus and permeability in periodic materials with cubic elastic and isotropic flow symmetries. The multiphysics problem is formulated such that the final design is dependent on the relative importance, or weights, assigned by the designer to the competing stiffness and flow terms in the objective function. This allows the designer to tailor the microstructure according to the materials’ future application, a feature clearly demonstrated by the presented results. The methodology can be extended to incorporate other material properties of interest as well as the design of composite materials.     

An Initial and Boundary Value Problem Modeling of Fish-like Swimming

In this paper we consider an initial and boundary value problem that models the self-propelled motion of solids in a bidimensional viscous incompressible fluid. The self-propelling mechanism, consisting of appropriate deformations of the solids, is a simplified model of the propulsion mechanism of fish-like swimmers. The governing equations consist of the Navier–Stokes equations for the fluid, coupled to Newton’s laws for the solids. Since we consider the case in which the fluid–solid system fills a bounded domain we have to tackle a free boundary value problem. The main theoretical result in the paper asserts the global existence and uniqueness (up to possible contacts) of strong solutions of this problem. The second novel result of this work is the provision of a numerical method for the fluid–solid system. This method provides a simulation of the simultaneous displacement of several swimmers and is tested on several examples.     

Inertia Effects in High-Rate Flow Through Heterogeneous Porous Media

The paper deals with the effects of large scale permeability–heterogeneity on flows at high velocities through porous media. The media is made of a large number of homogeneous blocks where the flow is assumed to be governed by the Forchheimer equation with a constant inertial coefficient. By assuming the validity of the Forchheimer equation at the large scale, an effective inertial coefficient is deduced from numerical simulations. Different media are investigated: serial-layers, parallel-layers and correlated media. The numerical results show that: (i) for the serial-layers, the effective inertial coefficient is independent of the Reynolds number and decreases when the variance and the mean permeability ratio increases; (ii) for the parallel-layers and the correlated media, the effective inertial coefficient is function of the Reynolds number and increases when the variance and the mean permeability ratio increases. Theoretical relationships are proposed for the inertial coefficient as function of the Reynolds number and the characteristics of the media.     

Comparison of low Mach number models for natural convection problems

 We investigate in this paper two numerical methods for solving low Mach number compressible flows and their application to single-phase natural convection flow problems. The first method is based on an asymptotic model of the Navier–Stokes equations valid for small Mach numbers, whereas the second is based on the full compressible Navier–Stokes equations with particular care given to the discretization at low Mach numbers. These models are more general than the Boussinesq incompressible flow model, in the sense that they are valid even for cases in which the fluid is subjected to large temperature differences, that is when the compressibility of the fluid manifests itself through low Mach number effects. Numerical solutions are computed for a series of test problems with fixed Rayleigh number and increasing temperature differences, as well as for varying Rayleigh number for a given temperature difference. Numerical difficulties associated with low Mach number effects are discussed, as well as the accuracy of the approximations. Received on 17 January 2000     

Derivation of a Darcy’s Law for a Porous Medium Composed of Two Solid Phases Saturated by a Single- Phase Fluid: A Homogenization Approach

The objective of this article is to derive a macroscopic Darcy’s law for a fluid-saturated moving porous medium whose matrix is composed of two solid phases which are not in direct contact with each other (weakly coupled solid phases). An example of this composite medium is the case of a solid matrix, unfrozen water, and an ice matrix within the pore space. The macroscopic equations for this type of saturated porous material are obtained using two-space homogenization techniques from microscopic periodic structures. The pore size is assumed to be small compared to the macroscopic scale under consideration. At the microscopic scale the two weakly coupled solids are described by the linear elastic equations, and the fluid by the linearized Navier–Stokes equations with appropriate boundary conditions at the solid–fluid interfaces. The derived Darcy’s law contains three permeability tensors whose properties are analyzed. Also, a formal relation with a previous macroscopic fluid flow equation obtained using a phenomenological approach is given. Moreover, a constructive proof of the existence of the three permeability tensors allows for their explicit computation employing finite elements or analogous numerical procedures.     

On the pressure and stress singularities induced by steady flows of incompressible viscous fluids

Design for structural integrity requires an appreciation of where stress singularities can occur in structural configurations. While there is a rich literature devoted to the identification of such singular behavior in solid mechanics, to date there has been relatively little explicit identification of stress singularities caused by fluid flows. In this study, stress and pressure singularities induced by steady flows of viscous incompressible fluids are asymptotically identified. This is done by taking advantage of an earlier result that the Navier-Stokes equations are locally governed by Stokes flow in angular corners. Findings for power singularities are confirmed by developing and using an analogy with solid mechanics. This analogy also facilitates the identification of flow-induced log singularities. Both types of singularity are further confirmed for two global configurations by applying convergence-divergence checks to numerical results. Even though these flow-induced stress singularities are analogous to singularities in solid mechanics, they nonetheless render a number of structural configurations singular that were not previously appreciated as such from identifications within solid mechanics alone.     

On the stability and extension of reduced-order Galerkin models in incompressible flows

Proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) has been used to develop a reduced-order model of the hydrodynamic forces acting on a circular cylinder. Direct numerical simulations of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations have been performed using a parallel computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code to simulate the flow past a circular cylinder. Snapshots of the velocity and pressure fields are used to calculate the divergence-free velocity and pressure modes, respectively. We use the dominant of these velocity POD modes (a small number of eigenfunctions or modes) in a Galerkin procedure to project the Navier–Stokes equations onto a low-dimensional space, thereby reducing the distributed-parameter problem into a finite-dimensional nonlinear dynamical system in time. The solution of the reduced dynamical system is a limit cycle corresponding to vortex shedding. We investigate the stability of the limit cycle by using long-time integration and propose to use a shooting technique to home on the system limit cycle. We obtain the pressure-Poisson equation by taking the divergence of the Navier–Stokes equation and then projecting it onto the pressure POD modes. The pressure is then decomposed into lift and drag components and compared with the CFD results.     

An integral equation method for closely interacting surfactant-covered droplets in wall-confined Stokes flow

A highly accurate method for simulating surfactant-covered droplets in two-dimensional Stokes flow with solid boundaries is presented. The method handles both periodic channel flows of arbitrary shape and stationary solid constrictions. A boundary integral method together with a special quadrature scheme is applied to solve the Stokes equations to high accuracy, also for closely interacting droplets. The problem is considered in a periodic setting and Ewald decompositions for the Stokeslet and stresslet are derived. Computations are accelerated using the spectral Ewald method. The time evolution is handled with a fourth-order, adaptive, implicit-explicit time-stepping scheme. The numerical method is tested through several convergence studies and other challenging examples and is shown to handle drops in close proximity both to other drops and solid objects to high accuracy.     

Ligament formation in sheared liquid–gas layers

We perform numerical simulations of two-phase liquid–gas sheared layers, with the objective of studying atomization. The Navier–Stokes equations for two-dimensional incompressible flow are solved in a periodic domain. A volume-of-fluid method is used to track the interface. The density ratio is kept around 10. The calculations show good agreement with a fully viscous Orr–Sommerfeld linear theory over several orders of magnitude of interface growth. The nonlinear development shows the growth of finger-like structures, or ligaments, and the detachment of droplets. The effect of the Weber and Reynolds numbers, the boundary layer width and the initial perturbation amplitude are discussed through a number of typical cases. Inversion of the liquid boundary layer is shown to yield more readily ligaments bending upwards and is thus more likely to produce droplets.     

Numerical Analysis of Coupled Stokes/Darcy Flows in Industrial Filtrations

Free flow channel confined by porous walls is a feature of many of the natural and industrial settings. Viscous flows adjacent to saturated porous medium occur in cross-flow and dead-end filtrations employed primarily in pharmaceutical and chemical industries for solid–liquid or gas–solid separations. Various mathematical models have been put forward to describe the conjugate flow dynamics based on theoretical grounds and experimental evidence. Despite this fact, there still exists a wide scope for extensive research in numerical solutions of these coupled models when applied to problems with industrial relevance. The present work aims towards the numerical analysis of coupled free/porous flow dynamics in the context of industrial filtration systems. The free flow dynamics has been expressed by the Stokes equations for the creeping, laminar flow regime whereas the flow behaviour in very low permeability porous media has been represented by the conventional Darcy equation. The combined free/porous fluid dynamical behaviour has been simulated using a mixed finite element formulation based on the standard Galerkin technique. A nodal replacement technique has been developed for the direct linking of Stokes and Darcy flow regimes which alleviates specification of any additional constraint at the free/porous interface. The simulated flow and pressure fields have been found for flow domains with different geometries which represent prototypes of actual industrial filtration equipment. Results have been obtained for varying values of permeability of the porous medium for generalised Newtonian fluids obeying the power law model. A series of numerical experiments has been performed in order to validate the coupled flow model. The developed model has been examined for its flexibility in dealing with complex geometrical domains and found to be generic in delivering convergent, stable and theoretically consistent results. The validity and accuracy of the simulated results has been affirmed by comparing with available experimental data.     

Fully Coupled THMC Modeling of Wellbore Stability with Thermal and Solute Convection Considered

Wellbore stability analysis is an important topic in petroleum geomechanics. Analytical and numerical analysis of wellbore stability involves the study of interactions among pressure, temperature and chemical changes, and the mechanical response of the rock, a coupled thermal–hydraulic–mechanical–chemical (THMC) process. Thermal and solute convection have usually been overlooked in numerical models. This is appropriate for shales with extremely low permeability, but for shales with intermediate and high permeability (e.g., shale with a disseminated microfissure network), thermal and solute convection should be considered. The challenge of considering advection lies in the numerical oscillation encountered when implementing the traditional Galerkin finite element approach for transient advection–diffusion problems. In this article, we present a fully coupled THMC model to analyze the stress, pressure, temperature, and solute concentration changes around a wellbore. In order to overcome spurious spatial temperature oscillations in the convection-dominated thermal advection–diffusion problem, we place the transient problem into an advection– diffusion-reaction problem framework, which is then efficiently addressed by a stabilized finite element approach, the subgrid scale/gradient subgrid scale method (SGS/GSGS).     

Computational Modeling of Fluid Flow through a Fracture in Permeable Rock

Laminar, single-phase, finite-volume solutions to the Navier–Stokes equations of fluid flow through a fracture within permeable media have been obtained. The fracture geometry was acquired from computed tomography scans of a fracture in Berea sandstone, capturing the small-scale roughness of these natural fluid conduits. First, the roughness of the two-dimensional fracture profiles was analyzed and shown to be similar to Brownian fractal structures. The permeability and tortuosity of each fracture profile was determined from simulations of fluid flow through these geometries with impermeable fracture walls. A surrounding permeable medium, assumed to obey Darcy’s Law with permeabilities from 0.2 to 2,000 millidarcies, was then included in the analysis. A series of simulations for flows in fractured permeable rocks was performed, and the results were used to develop a relationship between the flow rate and pressure loss for fractures in porous rocks. The resulting friction-factor, which accounts for the fracture geometric properties, is similar to the cubic law; it has the potential to be of use in discrete fracture reservoir-scale simulations of fluid flow through highly fractured geologic formations with appreciable matrix permeability. The observed fluid flow from the surrounding permeable medium to the fracture was significant when the resistance within the fracture and the medium were of the same order. An increase in the volumetric flow rate within the fracture profile increased by more than 5% was observed for flows within high permeability-fractured porous media.     

Cahn–Hilliard/Navier–Stokes Model for the Simulation of Three-Phase Flows

In this article, we describe some aspects of the diffuse interface modelling of incompressible flows, composed of three immiscible components, without phase change. In the diffuse interface methods, system evolution is driven by the minimisation of a free energy. The originality of our approach, derived from the Cahn–Hilliard model, comes from the particular form of energy we proposed in Boyer and Lapuerta (M2AN Math Model Numer Anal, 40:653–987,2006), which, among other interesting properties, ensures consistency with the two-phase model. The modelling of three-phase flows is further completed by coupling the Cahn–Hilliard system and the Navier–Stokes equations where surface tensions are taken into account through volume capillary forces. These equations are discretized in time and space paying attention to the fact that most of the main properties of the original model (volume conservation and energy estimate) have to be maintained at the discrete level. An adaptive refinement method is finally used to obtain an accurate resolution of very thin moving internal layers, while limiting the total number of cells in the grids all along the simulation. Different numerical results are given, from the validation case of the lens spreading between two phases (contact angles and pressure jumps), to the study of mass transfer through a liquid/liquid interface crossed by a single rising gas bubble. The numerical applications are performed with large ratio between densities and viscosities and three different surface tensions.