Computing and Comparing Effective Properties for Flow and Transport in Computer-Generated Porous Media

We compute effective properties (i.e., permeability, hydraulic tortuosity, and diffusive tortuosity) of three different digital porous media samples, including in-line array of uniform shapes, staggered-array of squares, and randomly distributed squares. The permeability and hydraulic tortuosity are...

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Main Authors: Rebecca Allen, Shuyu Sun
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2017-01-01
Series:Geofluids
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/4517259
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author Rebecca Allen
Shuyu Sun
author_facet Rebecca Allen
Shuyu Sun
author_sort Rebecca Allen
collection DOAJ
description We compute effective properties (i.e., permeability, hydraulic tortuosity, and diffusive tortuosity) of three different digital porous media samples, including in-line array of uniform shapes, staggered-array of squares, and randomly distributed squares. The permeability and hydraulic tortuosity are computed by solving a set of rescaled Stokes equations obtained by homogenization, and the diffusive tortuosity is computed by solving a homogenization problem given for the effective diffusion coefficient that is inversely related to diffusive tortuosity. We find that hydraulic and diffusive tortuosity can be quantitatively different by up to a factor of ten in the same pore geometry, which indicates that these tortuosity terms cannot be used interchangeably. We also find that when a pore geometry is characterized by an anisotropic permeability, the diffusive tortuosity (and correspondingly the effective diffusion coefficient) can also be anisotropic. This finding has important implications for reservoir-scale modeling of flow and transport, as it is more realistic to account for the anisotropy of both the permeability and the effective diffusion coefficient.
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spelling doaj-art-f558a46fe7c34487b031c4d197bb00612025-02-03T01:12:56ZengWileyGeofluids1468-81151468-81232017-01-01201710.1155/2017/45172594517259Computing and Comparing Effective Properties for Flow and Transport in Computer-Generated Porous MediaRebecca Allen0Shuyu Sun1King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi ArabiaKing Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi ArabiaWe compute effective properties (i.e., permeability, hydraulic tortuosity, and diffusive tortuosity) of three different digital porous media samples, including in-line array of uniform shapes, staggered-array of squares, and randomly distributed squares. The permeability and hydraulic tortuosity are computed by solving a set of rescaled Stokes equations obtained by homogenization, and the diffusive tortuosity is computed by solving a homogenization problem given for the effective diffusion coefficient that is inversely related to diffusive tortuosity. We find that hydraulic and diffusive tortuosity can be quantitatively different by up to a factor of ten in the same pore geometry, which indicates that these tortuosity terms cannot be used interchangeably. We also find that when a pore geometry is characterized by an anisotropic permeability, the diffusive tortuosity (and correspondingly the effective diffusion coefficient) can also be anisotropic. This finding has important implications for reservoir-scale modeling of flow and transport, as it is more realistic to account for the anisotropy of both the permeability and the effective diffusion coefficient.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/4517259
spellingShingle Rebecca Allen
Shuyu Sun
Computing and Comparing Effective Properties for Flow and Transport in Computer-Generated Porous Media
Geofluids
title Computing and Comparing Effective Properties for Flow and Transport in Computer-Generated Porous Media
title_full Computing and Comparing Effective Properties for Flow and Transport in Computer-Generated Porous Media
title_fullStr Computing and Comparing Effective Properties for Flow and Transport in Computer-Generated Porous Media
title_full_unstemmed Computing and Comparing Effective Properties for Flow and Transport in Computer-Generated Porous Media
title_short Computing and Comparing Effective Properties for Flow and Transport in Computer-Generated Porous Media
title_sort computing and comparing effective properties for flow and transport in computer generated porous media
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/4517259
work_keys_str_mv AT rebeccaallen computingandcomparingeffectivepropertiesforflowandtransportincomputergeneratedporousmedia
AT shuyusun computingandcomparingeffectivepropertiesforflowandtransportincomputergeneratedporousmedia