A finite element method for a three-dimensional second-order closure model of turbulent diffusion in a convective boundary layer

A three-dimensional second-order closure dispersion model is used to simulate the plume behaviour of a passive contaminant in a convective boundary layer. A time-splitting finite element method together with a non-linear filtering scheme is used to solve the three-dimensional second-order closure transport equations. The model results show good agreement with laboratory data for a ground level source.     

水蚀性岩层中的渗流和无机污染物的迁移

介绍水蚀性岩层中的渗流及金属和无机污染物迁移问题．通过对含有污染物的某些蓄水系统中的物理和化学过程的分析得出一些结论，并对这些过程不仅作了详细的说明，而且采用恰当的数学和化学方程加以讨论．在水蚀性岩层中无机污染物的迁移用高渗透率多孔介质中流动的基本方程近似地描述，而对流、水动力学扩散、稀释等影响可作为物理过程来阐述．总的说来，控制裂隙岩体中地下水流动与污染物输运的物理和化学机理是建立水蚀性岩层中无机污染物输运近似方法的基础．     

Fluid-solid coupling mathematical model of contaminant transport in unsaturated zone and its asymptotical solution

IntroductionThetransportofcontaminantsinunsaturatedzonehascausedmuchattention .Inearly1960s,contaminationproblemsofsoilandgroundwaterhadbeenstudiedathomeandabroad[1].Andinrecentyears ,thetransformationandtransportationofcontaminantshavebeendeeplystudiedinthefieldsofhydrogeology ,petroleumengineering ,environmentalengineeringandsoon[2 ,3].Somecontaminanttransportmodelshavebeenpresentedsofar.Forexample ,Paker[4 ]etal.presentedaconstitutivemodelgoverningparametersofwater,gasandcontaminantswhenth…     

Density-driven Transport of Volatile Organic Compounds and its Impact on Contaminated Groundwater Plume Evolution

Density-driven advection of gas phase due to vaporization of chlorinated volatile organic compounds (VOCs) has a significant effect on fate and transport of contaminants. In this study, we investigated the effects of density-driven advection, infiltration, and permeability on contaminant plume evolution and natural attenuation of VOCs in the subsurface system. To analyze these effects, multiphase flow and contaminant transport processes were simulated using a three-dimensional Galerkin-finite-element-based model. Trichloroethylene (TCE) is selected as a target contaminant. Density-driven advection of gas phase elevated the potential of groundwater pollution in the saturated zone by accelerating downward migration of vaporized contaminant in the unsaturated zone. The advection contributed to increased removal rates of non-aqueous phase liquid (NAPL) TCE source and reduced dissolved TCE plume development in the downstream area. Infiltration reduced the velocity of the density-driven advection and its influence zone, but raised TCE transfer from the unsaturated to the saturated zone. The variation in soil permeability showed greater impact on contaminant migration within water phase in the saturated zone than within gas phase in the unsaturated zone. Temporal variations of TCE mass within two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) domains under several modeling conditions were compared. These results are important in evaluation of natural attenuation processes, and should be considered to effectively design monitored natural attenuation as a remedial option.     

Numerical modeling of liquid-waste infiltration from storage facilities into surrounding groundwater and surface-water bodies

This study focuses on the infiltration of saturated brine from liquid-waste storage facilities into the surrounding groundwater and surface-water bodies. The storage facilities are situated at the Verkhnekamsk Potassium and Magnesium Salt Deposit (Perm krai, Russian Federation); they store highly mineralized brine of potassium, sodium, and magnesium chlorides. An analytical solution of a one-dimensional equation of contaminant transport by a homogeneous steady-state groundwater flow is used to estimate the time it takes the contaminant to travel from the storage facilities to the nearest surface water body, as well as to evaluate the formation time of a stationary concentration profile, with contaminant adsorption in the porous matrix either neglected or taken into account. The contaminant concentration at the point of brine entry into the surface water body is calculated. The ANSYS Fluent software package is used for direct 3D simulation of brine infiltration into the surrounding medium. The simulation results revealed different stages of contaminant propagation in the porous medium. The contaminant was found to spread over a wide area with an almost uniform high brine concentration close to the saturation value. The contaminant reaches the nearest riverbed approximately 20 days after the start of infiltration. The estimates of the time required for the contaminant front to reach the surface water body obtained by three-dimensional simulation agree with the analytical estimates derived from a one-dimensional model. The proposed system of physical models adequately describes the hydrodynamic processes accompanying the operation of large storage facilities and can be used to predict contaminant-front propagation in the groundwater near storage facilities.     

Similarity solutions for immiscible phase migration in porous media: an analysis of free boundaries

A fuel pollutant migrating in a water flow throughout a porous medium is distributed between the moving (continuous) and residual (discontinuous) phases. Usually, there is an equilibrium condition between these phases. In this study, the migration of a fuel slug confied within free boundaries moving in the porous medium is considered. This type of fuel migration pertains to circumstances in which convective fuel transport dominates fuel dispersion when fuel saturation approaches zero. A one-dimensional self-similar model is developed, describing the movement of fuel saturation fronts in a porous medium against and with the water flow direction. Several analytical solutions are found revealing the effects of the pore size, fuel viscosity, fuel mass, and the capillary number on the fuel migration in the porous medium.     

Laboratory Investigation of Variable-Density Flow and Solute Transport in Unsaturated–Saturated Porous Media

In many groundwater systems, fluid density and viscosity may vary in space and time as a function of changes in concentration and temperature of the fluid. When dense groundwater plumes interact with less dense ambient groundwater, these density variations can significantly affect flow and transport processes. Under certain conditions, gravitational instabilities in the form of lobe-shaped fingers can occur. This process is significant because it can lead to more rapid and spatially extensive solute transport. This paper presents new experiments carried out in a sand filled glass flow container under both fully saturated and variably-saturated conditions and focuses upon the processes that occur at the capillary fringe and below the water table, as affected by a dense contaminant plumes migration through the unsaturated zone. Source fluids stained with Rhodamine-WT were introduced at the upper boundary of the tank at a range of low and high densities. In addition to the fluid density gradients and porous medium permeability that determine the onset conditions for instabilities in fully saturated experiments, volumetric water content appears critical in the variably-saturated laboratory runs. Plume behaviour at the water table appears dependent upon the density of the fluid that accumulates there. For neutral and low density fluids, plumes accumulate at the water table and then spread laterally above it and the water table forms a barrier to further vertical flow as pore water velocities reduce with increasing water content. For medium and high density fluids, vertical movement continues as instabilities form at the capillary fringe and fingers begin to grow at the water table boundary and move downwards into the saturated zone. In these cases, lateral spreading of the plume is small. Despite these more qualitative observations, the exact nature of the relevant stability criteria for the onset and growth of instabilities in variably-saturated porous media presently remain unclear. All experimental results suggest, however, that the unsaturated zone and position of the water table must be considered in contaminant studies in order to predict the migration pathways, rates and ultimate fate of dense contaminant plumes. It is possible that the results of experiments presented in this paper could form a useful basis for the testing of variable-density (and variably-saturated) groundwater flow and solute transport numerical codes because they offer controlled physical laboratory analogs for comparison. They also provide a strong basis for the development of more rigorous mathematical formulations that are likely to be either developed or tested using numerical flow and solute transport simulators.     

Comparison of Kinetic and Hybrid-Equilibrium Models Simulating Colloid-Facilitated Contaminant Transport in Porous Media

The presence of colloidal particles in groundwater can enhance contaminant transport by reducing retardation effects and carrying them to distances further than predicted by a conventional advective/dispersive equation with normal retardation values. When colloids exist in porous media and affect contaminant migration, the system can best be simulated as a three-phase medium. Mechanisms of mass transfer from one phase to another by colloids and contaminants can be kinetic or equilibrium-based, depending on the sorption–desorption reaction rate between the aqueous and solid phases. When the rate of sorption between the water phase and the solid phase(s) is not much greater than the rate of change in contaminant concentration in the water phase, kinetic sorption models may better describe the phenomenon. In some cases of modeling one or more mass transfer processes, a useful simplification may be to introduce the local equilibrium assumption. In this study, the local equilibrium assumption for sorption processes on colloidal surfaces (hybrid equilibrium model) was compared with kinetic-based models. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to deduce the effect of major parameters on contaminant transport. The results obtained from the hybrid equilibrium model in predicting the transport of colloid-facilitated groundwater contaminant are very similar to those of the kinetic model, when the point of interest is not at contaminant and colloid source vicinities and the time of interest is sufficiently long for imposed sources.     

Parallel computation of atmospheric pollutant dispersion under unstably stratified atmosphere

Pollutant dispersion under unstably stratified atmosphere was investigated numerically using the finite element method. The effects of atmospheric stability on plume trajectory were studied using a three-dimensional second-order closure dispersion model. The numerical model was implemented using domain decomposition method and carried out using a parallel computer. The computation accelerates significantly and the size of computation can be largely increased as a result of the parallelism. A passive contaminant point source was placed at the middle of the convective boundary layer to simulate the atmospheric dispersion. The requirement of the input of dispersion coefficients in k-theory and Gaussian models was replaced with direct input of turbulence flow data. It was found that the present numerical model can predict several non-Gaussian plume behaviours and the computed results agreed well with findings from experimental observations. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stochastic and upscaled analytical modeling of fines migration in porous media induced by low-salinity water injection

Fines migration induced by injection of low-salinity water(LSW) into porous media can lead to severe pore plugging and consequent permeability reduction. The deepbed filtration(DBF) theory is used to model the aforementioned phenomenon, which allows us to predict the effluent concentration history and the distribution profile of entrapped particles. However, the previous models fail to consider the movement of the waterflood front. In this study, we derive a stochastic model for fines migration ...     

Effect of sorption hysteresis on the spatial distribution of contaminants in soils

A mathematical model of the combined transport of water and a dissolved contaminant in a peaty soil which takes hysteresis of the sorption and desorption processes into account is developed. The solvability of the initial and boundary value problems and the stability of the solutions are investigated. A series of problems characterizing the features of the contaminant distribution over peaty masses is solved numerically. A physical mechanism leading to the frequently observed effect of localization of the equilibrium sorbent distribution over the upper layer of soil is proposed. The effect of both the medium parameters and the regime of water and contaminant supply to the system is analyzed numerically.     

Anomalous Reactive Transport in the Framework of the Theory of Chromatography

The anomalous reactive transport considered here is the migration of contaminants through strongly sorbing permeable media without significant retardation. It has been observed in the case of heavy metals, organic compounds, and radionuclides, and it has critical implications on the spreading of contaminant plumes and on the design of remediation strategies. Even in the absence of the well-known fast migration pathways, associated with fractures and colloids, anomalous reactive transport arises in numerical simulations of reactive flow. It is due to the presence of highly pH-dependent adsorption and the broadening of the concentration front by hydrodynamic dispersion. This leads to the emergence of an isolated pulse or wave of a contaminant traveling at the average flow velocity ahead of the retarded main contamination front. This wave is considered anomalous because it is not predicted by the classical theory of chromatography, unlike the retardation of the main contamination front. In this study, we use the theory of chromatography to study a simple pH-dependent surface complexation model to derive the mathematical framework for the anomalous transport. We analyze the particular case of strontium (Sr²⁺) transport and define the conditions under which the anomalous transport arises. We model incompressible one-dimensional (1D) flow through a reactive porous medium for a fluid containing four aqueous species: H⁺, Sr²⁺, Na⁺, and Cl⁻. The mathematical problem reduces to a strictly hyperbolic 2 × 2 system of conservation laws for effective anions and Sr²⁺, coupled through a competitive Langmuir isotherm. One characteristic field is linearly degenerate while the other is not genuinely nonlinear due to an inflection point in the pH-dependent isotherm. We present the complete set of analytical solutions to the Riemann problem, consisting of only three combinations of a slow wave comprising either a rarefaction, a shock, or a shock–rarefaction with fast wave comprising only a contact discontinuity. Highly resolved numerical solutions at large Péclet numbers show excellent agreement with the analytic solutions in the hyperbolic limit. In the Riemann problem, the anomalous wave forms only if: hydrodynamic dispersion is present, the slow wave crosses the inflection locus, and the effective anion concentration increases along the fast path.     

Exact Solutions for Nonlinear High Retention-Concentration Fines Migration

The paper discusses migration of natural reservoir fines lifted by high-rate or low-salinity water injection. The previous papers used linear analytical model, which is valid for low retention of mobilised fine particles in order to determine the model parameters from breakthrough fines concentration and pressure drop across the core during laboratory corefloods. The current work derives exact analytical solutions for the nonlinear case of high retention-concentration fines migration. The solution exhibits uniform profiles of suspended and retained concentrations ahead of the particle front and steady-state retained concentration behind the front. The obtained type curves allow distinguishing between linear and nonlinear fines migration. The laboratory data exhibit close agreement with the nonlinear model predictions, whereas the linear model poorly matches the laboratory data.     

Numerical and experimental investigation on droplet dynamics and dispersion of a jet engine injector

In the case of turbine combustors operating with liquid fuel the combustion process is governed by the liquid fuel atomization and its dispersion in the combustion chamber. By highly unsteady flow field conditions the transient interaction between the liquid and the gaseous phase is of interest, because it results in a temporal variation of air–fuel ratio which leads to a fluctuating temperature distribution. The objective of this research was the investigation of transient flow field phenomena (e.g. large coherent structures) on droplet dynamics and dispersion of an isothermal flow (of inert water droplets) as a necessary first step towards a full analysis of spray combustion in real-life devices. The advanced injector system for lean jet engine combustors PERM (Partial Evaporated Rapid Mixing) was applied, generating a dilute polydispersed spray in a swirled flow field. Experiments were performed using Phase Doppler Anemometry (PDA) and a patternator to determine the droplet polydispersity, concentration maps, and velocity profiles in the flow. An important finding is the effect of large-scale coherent structures due mainly to the precessing of the vortex core (PVC) of the swirling air jet on the particle dispersion patterns. The experimental results then serve as reference data to assess the accuracy of the Eulerian–Lagrangian computations using a Large Eddy Simulation (LES), a Unsteady Reynolds-Average Navier–Stokes Simulation (URANS) and two simplified (steady-state) simulations. There, a simplified droplet injection model was used and the required boundary conditions of injected droplet sizes were obtained from measurements. Important transient effects of deterministic droplet separation observed during experiments, could be perfectly replicated with this injection model. It is convincingly shown, through extensive computations, that the resolution of instantaneous vortical structures is indeed crucial; hence the LES, or a reasonably-well resolved URANS are preferred over the steady-state solutions with additional, stochastic-type, turbulent dispersion models.     

Chemical Compositions in Salinity Waterflooding of Carbonate Reservoirs: Theory

Higher oil recovery after waterflood in carbonate reservoirs is attributed to increasing water wettability of the rock that in turn relies on complicated surface chemistry. In addition, calcite mineral reacts with aqueous solutions and can alter substantially the composition of injected water by mineral dissolution. Carefully designed chemical and/or brine flood compositions in the laboratory may not remain intact while the injected solutions pass through the reactive reservoir rock. This is especially true for a low-salinity waterflood process, where some finely tuned brine compositions can improve flood performances, whereas others cannot. We present a 1D reactive transport numerical model that captures the changes in injected compositions during water flow through porous carbonate rock. We include highly coupled bulk aqueous and surface carbonate-reaction chemistry, detailed reaction and mass transfer kinetics, 2:1 calcium ion exchange, and axial dispersion. At typical calcite reaction rates, local equilibrium is established immediately upon injection. In SI, we validate the reactive transport model against analytic solutions for rock dissolution, ion exchange, and longitudinal dispersion, each considered separately. Accordingly, using an open-source algorithm (Charlton and Parkhurst in Comput Geosci 37(10):1653–1663, 2011. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cageo.2011.02.005), we outline a design tool to specify chemical/brine flooding formulations that correct for composition alteration by the carbonate rock. Subsequent works compare proposed theory against experiments on core plugs of Indiana limestone and give examples of how injected salinity compositions deviate from those designed in the laboratory for water-wettability improvement.

     

Multiphase Flow Fields in In-situ Air Sparging and its Effect on Remediation

In-situ air sparging (IAS) is used for the clean-up of soil and groundwater that are contaminated with volatile organic compounds in relatively permeable subsurface environments. In this study, we investigated the secondary groundwater and gas flow fields that develop in the vicinity of single and multiple air sparging wells. The purpose is to evaluate their effects on contaminant plume migration and thus, remediation. Governing equations describing multiphase flow and contaminant transport in a three-dimensional domain were formulated and solved using the Galerkin finite element technique. Trichloroethylene was selected as a target contaminant. The increase in air injection contributed to an increase in the size of the IAS cone of influence and the gas saturation levels within the cone. This reduced the groundwater velocity within the cone and increased the zone of detour of groundwater around the air sparging wells. This outcome was quantified and compared under several IAS operations. Different soil permeability characteristics also affected the groundwater and gas flow patterns, and this impacted the remedial performance of the IAS system. Under high ambient groundwater velocity, an air sparging system that uses a single injection well caused the detour of contaminant plumes around injection wells, regardless of air injection rates, and failed to meet the remedial goal specified here. This system was successful for relatively low ambient groundwater velocity environments used here. An IAS system with multiple injection wells was effective in capturing and remediating the detoured contaminant plume, and showed superior performance when compared to a single injection well IAS system. Using IAS simulation, we also analyzed the impact of injection rates on site remediation using single or multiple wells. Design criteria that are based on the results of this study would be useful in enhancing the performance of the IAS systems.     

The Solution by the Wave Curve Method of Three-Phase Flow in Virgin Reservoirs

There are two goals of this study. The first is to provide an introduction to the wave curve method for finding the analytic solution of a porous medium injection problem. Similar to fractional and chromatographic flow theory, the wave curve method is based on the method of characteristics, but it is applicable to an expanded range of physical processes in porous medium flow. The second goal is to solve injection problems for immiscible three-phase flow, as described by Corey’s model, in which a mixture of gas and water is injected into a porous medium containing oil and irreducible water. In particular we determine, for any choice of the phase viscosities, the proportion of the injected fluids that maximizes recovery around breakthrough time. Numerical simulations are performed to compare our solutions for Corey’s model with those of other models. For the injection problems we consider, solutions for Corey’s model are very similar to those for Stone’s model, despite the presence of an elliptic region in the latter; and they are very different from those for the Juanes-Patzek model, which preserves strict hyperbolicity. A nice feature of our analytical method is that it facilitates explaining both differences and similarities among the solutions for the three models considered.     

Three dimensional finite element analysis of the flow of polymer melts

The finite element simulation of a selection of two- and three-dimensional flow problems is presented, based upon the use of four different constitutive models for polymer melts (Oldroyd-B, Rolie-Poly, Pom-Pom and XPP). The mathematical and computational models are first introduced, before their application to a range of visco-elastic flows is described. Results demonstrate that the finite element models used here are able to re-produce predictions made by other published numerical simulations and, significantly, by carefully conducted physical experiments using a commercial-grade polystyrene melt in a three-dimensional contraction geometry. The paper also presents a systematic comparison and evaluation of the differences between two- and three-dimensional simulations of two different flow regimes: flow of an Oldroyd-B fluid around a cylinder and flow of a Rolie-Poly fluid into the contraction geometry. This comparison allows new observations to be made concerning the relatively poor quality of two-dimensional simulations for flows in even quite deep channels.     

Optimal systems of Lie subalgebras for a two-phase mass flow

We apply the Lie symmetry method to a two-phase mass flow model (Pudasaini, 2012 [18]) and construct one-, two- and three-dimensional optimal systems of Lie subalgebras corresponding to the non-linear PDEs. As an optimal system contains structurally important information about different types of invariant solutions, it provides precise insights into all possible invariant solutions emerging from infinitesimal symmetries. We use the optimal system of one-dimensional Lie subalgebras to reduce the two-phase mass flow model to other systems of PDEs. Using the fact that the Lie bracket contains information about further reduction, we further reduce to systems of ODEs and PDEs. We solve a system numerically and present results for different physical and Lie parameters. Simulations reveal fluid and solid dynamics are distinctly sensitive to different Lie parameters, whereas both phases are influenced by the solid and the fluid pressure parameters. Higher pressure gradients result in higher flow velocities and lower flow heights. Fluid velocities dominate solid velocities, but the solid heights are higher than the fluid heights. Results provide an overall picture of the physical process, and the coupled dynamics of the solid and fluid phase velocities and the flow heights. These are physically meaningful results in sheared inclined channel flow of coupled two-phase mixture. This confirms the consistency of the obtained similarity solutions and potential applicability of the models and the constructed optimal systems.