Title: Predicting Effective Diffusivity of Porous Media from Images by Deep Learning

Abstract

Abstract We report the application of machine learning methods for predicting the effective diffusivity ( D _e ) of two-dimensional porous media from images of their structures. Pore structures are built using reconstruction methods and represented as images, and their effective diffusivity is computed by lattice Boltzmann (LBM) simulations. The datasets thus generated are used to train convolutional neural network (CNN) models and evaluate their performance. The trained model predicts the effective diffusivity of porous structures with computational cost orders of magnitude lower than LBM simulations. The optimized model performs well on porous media with realistic topology, large variation of porosity (0.28–0.98), and effective diffusivity spanning more than one order of magnitude (0.1 ≲ D _e < 1), e.g., >95% of predicted D _e have truncated relative error of <10% when the true D _e is larger than 0.2. The CNN model provides better prediction than the empirical Bruggeman equation, especially for porous structure with small diffusivity. The relative error of CNN predictions, however, is rather high for structures with D _e  < 0.1. To address this issue, the porosity of porous structures is encoded directly into the neural network but the performance is enhanced marginally. Further improvement, i.e.,more » 70% of the CNN predictions for structures with true D _e  < 0.1 have relative error <30%, is achieved by removing trapped regions and dead-end pathways using a simple algorithm. These results suggest that deep learning augmented by field knowledge can be a powerful technique for predicting the transport properties of porous media. Directions for future research of machine learning in porous media are discussed based on detailed analysis of the performance of CNN models in the present work.« less

Authors:

Wu, Haiyi; Fang, Wen-Zhen; Kang, Qinjun ;

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Tao, Wen-Quan; Qiao, Rui

Publication Date:

2019-12-31

Research Org.:

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program

OSTI Identifier:

1619666

Alternate Identifier(s):

OSTI ID: 1599031

Report Number(s):

LA-UR-19-23183
Journal ID: ISSN 2045-2322; 20387; PII: 56309

Grant/Contract Number:  

89233218CNA000001

Resource Type:

Published Article

Journal Name:

Scientific Reports

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Name: Scientific Reports Journal Volume: 9 Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2045-2322

Publisher:

Nature Publishing Group

Country of Publication:

United Kingdom

Language:

English

Subject:

42 ENGINEERING; Earth Sciences; Material Science