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Langevin Model for Reactive Transport in Porous Media

Journal Article · · Physical Review. E, Statistical Physics, Plasmas, Fluids, and Related Interdisciplinary Topics, 82(2 PT 2):Art. No. 026302

A meso-scale stochastic Lagrangian particle model is presented and used to simulate conservative and reactive transport in porous media. In the stochastic model, the fluid flow in a porous continuum is governed by a combination of a Langevin equation and continuity equation. Pore-scale velocity fluctuations, the source of mechanical dispersion, are represented by the white noise. Molecular diffusion and sub-pore-scale Taylor-type dispersion is modeled by effective stochastic advection-diffusion equation.In the meso-scale stochastic model the molecular and sub-pore-scale Taylor type dispersion is modeled by stochastic advection-diffusion equation. The advective velocity (the solution of langevin flow equation) causes the mechanical dispersion of a solute. A smoothed particle hydrodynamics method was used to solve the meso-scale transport equations. The comparison of the meso-scale model with pore-scale and Darcy-scale models shows that: 1) for a wide range of Peclet numbers the meso-scale model predicts the mass of reaction product more accurately than the macro-scale model; 2) for small Peclet numbers predictions of both the meso-scale and the macro-scale models agree well with a prediction of the pore-scale model; 3)the accuracy of the meso-scale model deteriorates with the increasing Peclet number but more slowly than the accuracy of the macro-scale model. These results show that the separate treatment of advective and diffusive mixing in the stochastic transport model is more accurate than the classical advection-dispersion theory, which uses a single effective diffusion coefficient (the dispersion coefficient) to describe both types of mixing.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (US), Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
988648
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-67811; 32297; KJ0401000
Journal Information:
Physical Review. E, Statistical Physics, Plasmas, Fluids, and Related Interdisciplinary Topics, 82(2 PT 2):Art. No. 026302, Journal Name: Physical Review. E, Statistical Physics, Plasmas, Fluids, and Related Interdisciplinary Topics, 82(2 PT 2):Art. No. 026302 Journal Issue: 2 PT 2 Vol. 82; ISSN PLEEE8; ISSN 1063-651X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English