HR: 13:40h
AN: H43J-01    [Abstracts]
TI: Pore-scale Simulations of Drainage of Heterogeneous and Anisotropic Porous Media
AU: * Tartakovsky, A L
EM: alexandre.tartakovsky@pnl.gov
AF: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, PO BOX 999, Richland, WA 99352, United States
AU: Ward, A L
EM: andy.ward@pnl.gov
AF: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, PO BOX 999, Richland, WA 99352, United States
AU: Meakin, P
EM: paul.meakin@pnl.gov
AF: Idaho National Laboratory, Center for Advanced Modeling and Simulation, Idaho Falls, ID 83415, United States
AB: A numerical model, based on smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH), was used to simulate pore-scale liquid and gas flow in synthetic two-dimensional porous media consisting of non-overlapping grains. The model was used to study the effects of pore- scale heterogeneity and anisotropy on the relationship between the average saturation and the Bond number (strength of the gravitational field acting on fluid density differences relative to capillary forces). Pore-scale anisotropy was created by using co-oriented non-overlapping elliptical grains, and heterogeneity was created by inserting a micro-fracture in the middle of the porous domain consisting of non- overlapping circular grains. The effect of the wetting fluid properties on drainage was also investigated. It is shown that pore-scale heterogeneity and anisotropy can give rise to saturation/Bond number relationships and entry (bubbling) pressures that depend on the flow direction, suggesting that these properties should be described by tensor rather than scalar quantities.
DE: 1009 Geochemical modeling (3610, 8410)
DE: 1828 Groundwater hydraulics
DE: 1832 Groundwater transport
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting