The understanding and prediction of preferential fluid flow in porous media have attracted considerable attention in various engineering fields because of the implications of such flows in leading to a non-equilibrium...The understanding and prediction of preferential fluid flow in porous media have attracted considerable attention in various engineering fields because of the implications of such flows in leading to a non-equilibrium fluid flow in the subsurface. In this study, a novel algorithm is proposed to predict preferential flow paths based on the topologically equivalent network of a porous structure and the flow resistance of flow paths. The equivalent flow network was constructed using Poiseuille's law and the maximal inscribed sphere algorithm. The flow resistance of each path was then determined based on Darcy's law. It was determined that fluid tends to follow paths with lower flow resistance. A computer program was developed and applied to an actual porous structure. To validate the algorithm and program, we tested and recorded two-dimensional(2 D) water flow using an ablated Perspex sheet featuring the same porous structure investigated using the analytical calculations. The results show that the measured preferential flow paths are consistent with the predictions.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grants Nos.51374213,51674251&51727807)the State Key Research Development Program of China(Grant No.2016YFC0600705)+2 种基金the National Natural Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars(Grant No.51125017)the Fund for Creative Research and Development Group Program of Jiangsu Province(2014-27)the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions(Grant No.PAPD-2014)
文摘The understanding and prediction of preferential fluid flow in porous media have attracted considerable attention in various engineering fields because of the implications of such flows in leading to a non-equilibrium fluid flow in the subsurface. In this study, a novel algorithm is proposed to predict preferential flow paths based on the topologically equivalent network of a porous structure and the flow resistance of flow paths. The equivalent flow network was constructed using Poiseuille's law and the maximal inscribed sphere algorithm. The flow resistance of each path was then determined based on Darcy's law. It was determined that fluid tends to follow paths with lower flow resistance. A computer program was developed and applied to an actual porous structure. To validate the algorithm and program, we tested and recorded two-dimensional(2 D) water flow using an ablated Perspex sheet featuring the same porous structure investigated using the analytical calculations. The results show that the measured preferential flow paths are consistent with the predictions.
