scholarly journals Solution of the 3D density-driven groundwater flow problem with uncertain porosity and permeability

Author(s):  
Alexander Litvinenko ◽  
Dmitry Logashenko ◽  
Raul Tempone ◽  
Gabriel Wittum ◽  
David Keyes

AbstractThe pollution of groundwater, essential for supporting populations and agriculture, can have catastrophic consequences. Thus, accurate modeling of water pollution at the surface and in groundwater aquifers is vital. Here, we consider a density-driven groundwater flow problem with uncertain porosity and permeability. Addressing this problem is relevant for geothermal reservoir simulations, natural saline-disposal basins, modeling of contaminant plumes and subsurface flow predictions. This strongly nonlinear time-dependent problem describes the convection of a two-phase flow, whereby a liquid flows and propagates into groundwater reservoirs under the force of gravity to form so-called “fingers”. To achieve an accurate numerical solution, fine spatial resolution with an unstructured mesh and, therefore, high computational resources are required. Here we run a parallelized simulation toolbox ug4 with a geometric multigrid solver on a parallel cluster, and the parallelization is carried out in physical and stochastic spaces. Additionally, we demonstrate how the ug4 toolbox can be run in a black-box fashion for testing different scenarios in the density-driven flow. As a benchmark, we solve the Elder-like problem in a 3D domain. For approximations in the stochastic space, we use the generalized polynomial chaos expansion. We compute the mean, variance, and exceedance probabilities for the mass fraction. We use the solution obtained from the quasi-Monte Carlo method as a reference solution.

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 339
Author(s):  
I. Carneiro ◽  
M. Borges ◽  
S. Malta

In this work,we present three-dimensional numerical simulations of water-oil flow in porous media in order to analyze the influence of the heterogeneities in the porosity and permeability fields and, mainly, their relationships upon the phenomenon known in the literature as viscous fingering. For this, typical scenarios of heterogeneous reservoirs submitted to water injection (secondary recovery method) are considered. The results show that the porosity heterogeneities have a markable influence in the flow behavior when the permeability is closely related with porosity, for example, by the Kozeny-Carman (KC) relation.This kind of positive relation leads to a larger oil recovery, as the areas of high permeability(higher flow velocities) are associated with areas of high porosity (higher volume of pores), causing a delay in the breakthrough time. On the other hand, when both fields (porosity and permeability) are heterogeneous but independent of each other the influence of the porosity heterogeneities is smaller and may be negligible.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 3092
Author(s):  
Lourenço Sassetti Mendes ◽  
Javier L. Lara ◽  
Maria Teresa Viseu

Spillway design is key to the effective and safe operation of dams. Typically, the flow is characterized by high velocity, high levels of turbulence, and aeration. In the last two decades, advances in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) made available several numerical tools to aid hydraulic structures engineers. The most frequent approach is to solve the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations using an Euler type model combined with the volume-of-fluid (VoF) method. Regardless of a few applications, the complete two-phase Euler is still considered to demand exorbitant computational resources. An assessment is performed in a spillway offset aerator, comparing the two-phase volume-of-fluid (TPVoF) with the complete two-phase Euler (CTPE). Both models are included in the OpenFOAM® toolbox. As expected, the TPVoF results depend highly on the mesh, not showing convergence in the maximum chute bottom pressure and the lower-nappe aeration, tending to null aeration as resolution increases. The CTPE combined with the k–ω SST Sato turbulence model exhibits the most accurate results and mesh convergence in the lower-nappe aeration. Surprisingly, intermediate mesh resolutions are sufficient to surpass the TPVoF performance with reasonable calculation efforts. Moreover, compressibility, flow bulking, and several entrained air effects in the flow are comprehended. Despite not reproducing all aspects of the flow with acceptable accuracy, the complete two-phase Euler demonstrated an efficient cost-benefit performance and high value in spillway aerated flows. Nonetheless, further developments are expected to enhance the efficiency and stability of this model.


Author(s):  
Aurelia Chenu ◽  
Konstantin Mikityuk ◽  
Rakesh Chawla

In the framework of PSI’s FAST code system, the TRACE thermal-hydraulics code is being extended for representation of sodium two-phase flow. As the currently available version (v.5) is limited to the simulation of only single-phase sodium flow, its applicability range is not enough to study the behavior of a Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (SFR) during a transient in which boiling is anticipated. The work reported here concerns the extension of the two-fluid models, which are available in TRACE for steam-water, to sodium two-phase flow simulation. The conventional correlations for ordinary gas-liquid flows are used as basis, with optional correlations specific to liquid metal when necessary. A number of new models for representation of the constitutive equations specific to sodium, with a particular emphasis on the interfacial transfer mechanisms, have been implemented and compared with the original closure models. As a first application, the extended TRACE code has been used to model experiments that simulate a loss-of-flow (LOF) accident in a SFR. The comparison of the computed results, with both the experimental data and SIMMER-III code predictions, has enabled validation of the capability of the modified TRACE code to predict sodium boiling onset, flow regimes, dryout, flow reversal, etc. The performed study is a first-of-a-kind application of the TRACE code to two-phase sodium flow. Other integral experiments are planned to be simulated to further develop and validate the two-phase sodium flow methodology.


Author(s):  
Rufat Abiev

Analysis of hydrodynamics and mass transfer Taylor flows in micro channels of both gas-liquid and liquid-liquid systems on the basis of classical theoretical approach with some simplifying assumptions was performed. Results of theoretical analysis for description of hydrodynamic parameters and mass transfer characteristics were confirmed by comparison with the author's own and available in literature experimental data. It was shown that the main parameters of two-phase Taylor flows could be quite precisely described theoretically: mean bubble/droplet velocity, liquid film thickness, real gas holdup (which is always smaller than so-called dynamic holdup), pressure drop. Peculiarities of liquid-liquid flows compared to gas-liquid Taylor flows in capillaries are discussed. Wettability effect on hydrodynamics was examined. Tools of mass transfer intensification of gas-liquid and liquid-liquid Taylor flow in micro channels are analyzed. Three-layer model for heat and mass transfer has been proposed and implemented for the case of solid-liquid mass transfer for gas-liquid Taylor flows; optimal process conditions for this process are found theoretically and discussed from physical point of view.


Processes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zizheng Sun ◽  
Xiao Yan ◽  
Weiqi Han ◽  
Guowei Ma ◽  
Yiming Zhang

In grouting process, filtration is the retention and adsorption of cement-grout particles in a porous/fractured medium. Filtration partly/even completely blocks the transportation channels in the medium, greatly decreasing its permeability. Taking into account filtration effects is essential for accurately estimating the grout penetration region. In this paper, the 3D unified pipe-network method (UPM) is adopted for simulating 3D grout penetration process in a fractured porous medium, considering filtration effects. The grout is assumed to exhibit two-phase flow, and the filtration effects depend on not only the concentration and rheology of the grout but also the porosity and permeability of the fractured porous medium. By comparing the model with the experimental results, we firstly verify the proposed numerical model. Then sensitivity analysis is conducted, showing the influences of grout injection pressures, the water–cement ratios of grout (W/C) and the grout injection rates on filtration effect. Finally, the grout filtration process in a complex 3D fractured network is simulated, indicating that the size of the grout penetration region is limited due to filtration.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
M. H. Alawi ◽  
M. M. El-Qadi ◽  
M. A. El-Ameen

Porous asphalt is a standard asphalt built on aggregate storage bed which allows water to drain through it and reduces stormwater runoff. However, porosity of the porous asphalt and the storage bed may be effectively reduced due to trapping suspended solids from the water or from the asphalt damage. In this paper, we present mathematical modeling and numerical simulation of flow and damage of porous asphalt-paved roads. A mathematical model to describe the fine-particles transport carried by a two-phase flow in a porous medium is presented. The buoyancy, capillarity, and mixed relative permeabilities correlations to fit with the mixed-wet system are considered. Throughout this investigation, we monitor the changing of the fluids properties such as water saturation and solid properties such as porosity and permeability due to trapping the fine-particles.


1977 ◽  
Vol 99 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. T. Smith ◽  
J. W. Murdock ◽  
R. S. Applebaum

The two-phase flow correlations developed by Murdock, James, Marriott, and Smith and Leang are evaluated for the case of flow through sharp edge measuring orifices which physically meet ASME standards for flow measurement. The evaluation is based on two sets of consistent orifice flow data. The first data base consists of 34 test points for the flow of steam-water mixtures. The second data base consists of 81 data points for the flow of air-water, natural gas-water, natural gas-salt water, and natural gas-distillate mixtures. The root mean square fractional deviation of each correlation is used to determine its predictive reliability. Computed root mean square fraction deviations for steam-water flows are: James, ±0.081; Marriott, ±0.114; Murdock, ±0.141; Smith and Leang, ±0.218. For the case of gas-liquid flows, the values are: Murdock, ±0.074; James, ±0.178; Smith and Leang, ±0.183; Marriott, ±0.458.


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