Effects of a Building’s Density on Flow in Urban Areas

The effects of a building＇s density on urban flows are investigated using a CFD model with the RNG k - ε turbulence closure scheme. Twenty-seven cases with different building＇s density parameters （e.g., building and street-canyon aspect ratios） are numerically simulated. As the building＇s density parameters vary, different flow regimes appear. When the street canyon is relatively narrow and high, two counterrotating vortices in the vertical direction are generated. The wind speed along streets is mainly affected by the building＇s length. However, it is very difficult to find or generalize the characteristics of the street-canyon flows in terms of a single building＇s density parameter. This is because the complicated flow patterns appear due to the variation of the vortex structure and vortex number. Volume-averaged vorticity magnitude is a very good indicator to reflect the flow characteristics despite the strong dependency of flows on the variation of the building＇s density parameters. Multi-linear regression shows that the volume-averaged vorticity magnitude is a strong function of the building＇s length and the street-canyon width. The increase in the building＇s length decreases the vorticity of the street-canyon flow, while, the increase in the street- canyon width increases the vorticity.

Seismic wave equations in tight oil/gas sandstone media

Tight oil/gas medium is a special porous medium,which plays a significant role in oil and gas exploration.This paper is devoted to the derivation of wave equations in such a media,which take a much simpler form compared to the general equations in the poroelasticity theory and can be employed for parameter inversion from seismic data.We start with the fluid and solid motion equations at a pore scale,and deduce the complete Biot’s equations by applying the volume averaging technique.The underlying assumptions are carefully clarified.Moreover,time dependence of the permeability in tight oil/gas media is discussed based on available results from rock physical experiments.Leveraging the Kozeny-Carman equation,time dependence of the porosity is theoretically investigated.We derive the wave equations in tight oil/gas media based on the complete Biot’s equations under some reasonable assumptions on the media.The derived wave equations have the similar form as the diffusiveviscous wave equations.A comparison of the two sets of wave equations reveals explicit relations between the coefficients in diffusive-viscous wave equations and the measurable parameters for the tight oil/gas media.The derived equations are validated by numerical results.Based on the derived equations,reflection and transmission properties for a single tight interlayer are investigated.The numerical results demonstrate that the reflection and transmission of the seismic waves are affected by the thickness and attenuation of the interlayer,which is of great significance for the exploration of oil and gas.

Ferrofluid magnetoviscous control of wall flow channeling in porous media

We analyzed the phenomenon of ferrofiuid magnetoviscosity in high-permeability wall-region non-magnetic porous media of the Müller kind. After upscaling the pore-level ferrohydrodynamic model, we obtained a simplified volume-average zero-order axisymmetric model for non-Darcy non-turbulent flow of steady-state isothermal incompressible Newtonian ferrofluids through a porous medium experiencing external constant bulk-flow oriented gradient magnetic field, ferrofluid self-consistent demagnetizing field and induced magnetic field in the solid. The model was explored in contexts plagued by wall flow maldistribution due to low column-to-particle diameter ratios. It was shown that for proper magnetic field arrangement, wall channeling can be reduced by inflating wall flow resistance through magnetovisco-thickening and Kelvin body force density which reroute a fraction of wall flow towards bed core.