Predictions of non-Fickian solute transport in different classes of porous media using direct simulation on pore-scale images.
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Bijeljic, B
Raeini, A
Mostaghimi, P
Blunt, MJ
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
We present predictions of transport through micro-CT images of porous media that include the analysis of correlation structure, velocity, and the dynamics of the evolving plume. We simulate solute transport through millimeter-sized three-dimensional images of a beadpack, a sandstone, and a carbonate, representing porous media with an increasing degree of pore-scale complexity. The Navier-Stokes equations are solved to compute the flow field and a streamline simulation approach is used to move particles by advection, while the random walk method is employed to represent diffusion. We show how the computed propagators (concentration as a function of displacement) for the beadpack, sandstone, and carbonate depend on the width of the velocity distribution. A narrow velocity distribution in the beadpack leads to the least anomalous behavior, where the propagators rapidly become Gaussian in shape; the wider velocity distribution in the sandstone gives rise to a small immobile concentration peak, and a large secondary mobile peak moving at approximately the average flow speed; in the carbonate with the widest velocity distribution, the stagnant concentration peak is persistent, with a slower emergence of a smaller secondary mobile peak, characteristic of highly anomalous behavior. This defines different types of transport in the three media and quantifies the effect of pore structure on transport. The propagators obtained by the model are in excellent agreement with those measured on similar cores in nuclear magnetic resonance experiments by Scheven, Verganelakis, Harris, Johns, and Gladden, Phys. Fluids 17, 117107 (2005).
Date Issued
2013-01
Citation
Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys, 2013, 87 (1)
ISSN
1539-3755
Publisher
American Physical Society
Journal / Book Title
Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys
Volume
87
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
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this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published
article’s title, journal citation, and DOI
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
. Further distribution of
this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published
article’s title, journal citation, and DOI
License URL
Description
5/01/15 meb. OA paper Ok to add.
Identifier
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23410430
Subjects
Algorithms
Computer Simulation
Models, Chemical
Porosity
Rheology
Solutions
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
United States
Article Number
013011