skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Pore-scale modeling of immiscible and miscible fluid flows using smoothed particle hydrodynamics

Journal Article · · Advances in Water Resources, 29(10):1464-1478

A numerical model based on smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) was developed and used to simulate immiscible and miscible fluid flows in porous media and to study effects of porous scale heterogeneity and anisotropy on such flows. Models for heterogeneous porous media were generated by using randomly located non-intersecting circular grains of different sizes, and pore scale anisotropy was introduced by randomly inserting non-overlapping particles on either side of the gap between two self-affine fractal curves to create a microfracture. . Different fluid wetting behaviors and surface tensions were modeled using pairwise particle-particle interactions. Particles with different masses and viscosities were used to model multiphase flow. In simulations of miscible fluid flow, particles with variable, composition dependent, masses and viscosities were used. Artificial surface tension effects were avoided by basing the SPH equations on the particle number density.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
901764
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-44208; TRN: US200715%%58
Journal Information:
Advances in Water Resources, 29(10):1464-1478, Vol. 29, Issue 10
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English