Effective Behavior Near Clogging in Upscaled Equations for Non-isothermal Reactive Porous Media Flow

For a non-isothermal reactive flow process, effective properties such as permeability and heat conductivity change as the underlying pore structure evolves. We investigate changes of the effective properties for a two-dimensional periodic porous medium as the grain geometry changes. We consider specific grain shapes and study the evolution by solving the cell problems numerically for an upscaled model derived in Bringedal et al. (Transp Porous Media 114(2):371–393, 2016. doi: 10.1007/s11242-015-0530-9). In particular, we focus on the limit behavior near clogging. The effective heat conductivities are compared to common porosity-weighted volume averaging approximations, and we find that geometric averages perform better than arithmetic and harmonic for isotropic media, while the optimal choice for anisotropic media depends on the degree and direction of the anisotropy. An approximate analytical expression is found to perform well for the isotropic effective heat conductivity. The permeability is compared to some commonly used approaches focusing on the limiting behavior near clogging, where a fitted power law is found to behave reasonably well. The resulting macroscale equations are tested on a case where the geochemical reactions cause pore clogging and a corresponding change in the flow and transport behavior at Darcy scale. As pores clog the flow paths shift away, while heat conduction increases in regions with lower porosity.     

Effective Flux Boundary Conditions for Upscaling Porous Media Equations

We introduce a new algorithm for setting pressure boundary conditions in subgrid simulations of porous media flow. The algorithm approximates the flux in the boundary cell as the flux through a homogeneous inclusion in a homogeneous background, where the permeability of the inclusion is given by the cell permeability and the permeability of the background is given by the ambient effective permeability. With this approximation, the flux in the boundary cell scales with the cell permeability when that permeability is small, and saturates at a constant value when that permeability is large. The flux conditions provide Neumann boundary conditions for the subgrid pressure. We call these boundary conditions effective flux boundary conditions (EFBCs). We give solutions for the flux through ellipsoidal inclusions in two and three dimensions, assuming symmetric tensor permeabilities whose principal axes align with the axes of the ellipse. We then discuss the considerations involved in applying these equations to scale up problems in geological porous media. The key complications are heterogeneity, fluctuations at all length scales, and boundary conditions at finite scales.     

Upscaling of Stochastic Micro Model for Suspension Transport in Porous Media

Micro scale population balance equations of suspension transport in porous media with several particle capture mechanisms are derived, taking into account the particle capture by accessible pores, that were cut off the flux due to pore plugging. The main purpose of the article is to prove that the micro scale equations allow for exact upscaling (averaging) in case of filtration of mono dispersed suspensions. The averaged upper scale equations generalise the classical deep bed filtration model and its latter modifications.     

Flow and Heat Transfer of Viscous Fluids Saturated in Porous Media over a Permeable Non-isothermal Stretching Sheet

The present paper deals with the flow and heat transfer of a viscous fluid saturated in a porous medium past a permeable and non-isothermal stretching sheet with internal heat generation or absorption and radiation. Closed-form solutions to steady, two dimensional momentum equations with neglecting quadratic inertia terms and heat transfer equation are found using a similarity transformation. Asymptotic expressions of the temperature functions are also presented valid for both very large and very small modified Prandtl numbers. Attention is focused on the effects of porous parameter K, suction parameter R, radiation parameter Nr, viscosity ratio Λ, internal heat parameter α and Prandtl number P to the characteristics of flow and heat transfer.     

Application of Effective Flux Boundary Conditions to Two-Phase Upscaling in Porous Media

A new algorithm is introduced for upscaling relative permeabilities, and tested in simulations of two-dimensional reservoir displacement processes. The algorithm is similar to existing algorithms for computing upscaled relative permeabilities from subgrid simulations, but uses new boundary conditions for the pressure field. The new 'effective flux boundary conditions' were introduced in a previous paper and provide a more accurate estimate of flux through high permeability channels. The algorithm was tested in conjunction with uniform grid coarsening and upscaled absolute permeabilities for a broad range of coarsenings. The permeability fields were highly heteroge-neous and layered, and were obtained from synthetic data and from conditioned realizations of actual oil reservoirs. The algorithm was tested for a wide variety of grid aspect ratios, and for both viscous-and gravity-dominated flow. Typical fine grids were of the order of 100×100 cells; the coarsest scaled-up grids were on the order of 5×5 cells. The quality of scale up was evaluated by comparing oil cut curves for the fine and coarse grid simulations. We consistently obtained excellent agreement, even at the coarsest levels of scale up.     

Flow in Random Porous Media

Flow in a porous medium with a random hydraulic conductivity tensor K(x) is analyzed when the mean conductivity tensor (x) is a non-constant function of position x. The results are a non-local expression for the mean flux vector (x) in terms of the gradient of the mean hydraulic head (x), an integrodifferential equation for (x), and expressions for the two point covariance functions of q(x) and (x). When K(x) is a Gaussian random function, the joint probability distribution of the functions q(x) and (x) is determined.     

渗流方程自适应非均匀网格Dagan粗化算法

在粗网格内先统计渗透率在粗网格中的概率分布，利用Dagan渗透率粗化积分方程通过渗透率概率分布计算粗化网格的等效渗透率，并由等效渗透率计算了粗化网格的压强分布，计算压强时还将渗透率自适应网格技术应用于三维渗流方程的网格粗化算法中，在渗透率或孔隙度变化异常区域自动采用精细网格，用直接解法求解渗透率或孔隙度变化异常区域的压强分布。整个求解区采用不均匀网格粗化，在流体流速高的区域采用精细网格。利用本文方法计算了三维渗流方程的压强分布，结果表明这种算法的解在渗透率或孔隙度异常区的压强分布规律非常逼近精细网格的解，在其他区域压强分布规律非常逼近粗化算法的解，计算速度比采用精细网格提高了约100倍。     

Porosity Imaging in Porous Media Using Synchrotron Tomographic Techniques

This paper describes novel uses of synchrotron radiation in examining porosity distributions within porous media. Tomographic energy dispersive diffraction imaging and Tomographic X-ray fluorescence have been combined within one measurement method and used to highlight the porosity distribution in a typical sample of English Chalk.     

Exact Solution for Coupled Reactive Flow and Dissolution with Porosity Changes

We derive exact solution for mineral-dissolution reactive flows in porous media with porosity variations. These conditions are relevant to injection of incompatible liquids into aquifers for disposal or waste storage, rock alteration during well stimulation by acidising or invasion of corrosive, far-from-equilibrium fluids related to ore deposit formation and heap or in situ leaching in mineral processing. Despite the porosity change making the one-dimensional flow equations nonlinear, the problem allows for exact integration, and a novel analytical model is developed. It allows presenting typical curves for breakthrough concentrations and porosity evolution. The exact solution provides a tool for predictive testing of reactive models that account for porosity creation. The analytical model derived exhibits high agreement with laboratory data, which validate the model.     

Upscaling of Nonwetting Phase Residual Transport in Porous Media: A Network Approach

Based on the volume averaging method, a macroscopic model is developed for the upscaling of NAPL transport in a porous medium idealised by a network model. Under the assumption of local mass non-equilibrium, a macroscopic equation involving a dispersion tensor, additional convective terms and a linear form for the interfacial mass flux is obtained. The resolution of the two local closure problems obtained allow the determination of the local properties without adjustable parmeters. These problems are solved in a semi-analytical, semi-numerical manner on the network. The originality of this work is the association of the upscaling by volume averaging method with the network approach. The local properties, including the dispersion tensor and the mass exchange coefficient, can therefore be calculated over a large number of pore-bodies and pore-throats in a computationaly tractable manner, thus leading to more significant results. Results are presented for 3D, spatially periodic models of porous media.     

Effective versus Total Porosity Based Geostatistical Models: Implications for Upscaling and Flow Simulation

This paper discusses issues related to the choice of total or effective porosity as the porosity basis for geostatistical model construction. Distributions of variables are different depending on the porosity basis. The distribution of variables has a strong effect on the performance of collo-cated simulation techniques. This paper presents the two porosity approaches and demonstrates some of the issues that may arise. In the examples shown here, total porosity appears to generate better behaved porosity-permeability co-distributions. Regardless of the porosity basis, upscaling methods are shown to potentially move hydrocarbon from low quality rock into more accessible coarser cells which means that any application of cutoffs is more meaningfully applied prior to upscaling if this movement is considered unrealistic for large-scale flow simulation.     

Convective Flows on Reactive Surfaces in Porous Media

A model for the convective flow in a fluidsaturated porous medium containing a reactive component is considered. This component undergoes an exothermic reaction (modelled by a first order mechanism) on an impermeable bounding surface, the resulting heat released driving the convective flow. Large Rayleigh number flow near a stagnation point is treated in detail by first considering the steady states. Multiple solution branches and critical points arising from a hysteresis bifurcation are identified. The form that these solution branches take depends on whether or not the effects of reactant consumption are included. An initialvalue problem is then discussed. This shows that both the lower (slow reaction) and upper (fast reaction) solution branches are stable (and the ultimate state of the system). When the parameter values are such that there is no steady state, the solution develops a finitetime singularity, the nature of which is analysed.     

双重孔隙介质非线性流固耦合渗流

本文给出了考虑双孔双涌介质生变形的流固耦合渗流模型。不仅考虑了固结对渗流的影响,同时也考虎了固体变形对渗流参数（孔隙度和渗透率）的影响。这样。渗流就成了双孔双渗介质中非线性流固耦合渗流。在此基础上,本文还推导了双重孔隙介质非线性流固耦合渗流计算。给出了算例并作了对比。结果表明,固体变形引起的介质参数变化对流体渗流早中期过程有重要的影响,对渗流后期影响并不大。这对于石油开采有重要的参考价值。     

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.     

Flow Through a Two-Scale Porosity,Oriented Fibre Porous Medium

A model is described for the meso- and micro-flow through an array of oriented fibre tows with meso-channels between the tows. Axial Stokes's flow was considered in the meso-channels and Darcy's law was applied within the porous fibre tows, taking into account injection pressure and capillary pressures in both types of flow. Transverse flow transfer was modelled from the leading flow front to the lagging flow and a partial-slip boundary condition was applied at the permeable boundaries of meso-channels. Flow visualisation experiments and microstructural characterisation of laminates provided appropriate experimental data for model validation. In this, the predictions for the progress of the leading meso-flow were in excellent agreement with the experimental data. Parametric studies followed including the effects of injection pressure and meso-channel size.     

Macroscopic Flow Potentials in Swelling Porous Media

In swelling porous media, the potential for flow is much more than pressure, and derivations for flow equations have yielded a variety of equations. In this article, we show that the macroscopic flow potentials are the electro-chemical potentials of the components of the fluid and that other forms of flow equations, such as those derived through mixture theory or homogenization, are a result of particular forms of the chemical potentials of the species. It is also shown that depending upon whether one is considering the pressure of a liquid in a reservoir in electro-chemical equilibrium with the swelling porous media, or the pressure of the vicinal liquid within the swelling porous media, a critical pressure gradient threshold exists or does not.