A Fractal Orifice-Throat Model for Seepage Characteristics of Multiscale Porous Media

The seepage characteristics of multiscale porous media is of considerable significance in many scientific and engineering fields.The Darcy permeability is one of the key macroscopic physical properties to characterize the seepage capacity of porous media.Therefore,based on the statistically fractal scaling law of porous media,fractal geometry is applied to model the multiscale pore structures.And a two-dimensional fractal orifice-throat model with multiscale and tortuous characteristics is proposed for the seepage flow through porous media.The analytical expression for Darcy permeability of porous media is derived,which is validated by comparing with available experimental data.The results show that the Darcy permeability is significantly influenced by porosity,orifice-throat fractal dimension,minimum to maximum diameter ratio,orifice-throat ratio and tortuosity fractal dimension.The present results are helpful for understanding the seepage mechanism of multiscale porous media,and may provide theoretical basis for unconventional oil and gas exploration and development,porous phase transition energy storage composites,CO2 geological sequestration,environmental protection and nuclear waste treatment,etc.

Numerical study on permeability characteristics of fractal porous media

The fractal Brownian motion is utilized to describe pore structures in porous media. A numerical model of laminar flow in porous media is developed, and the flow characteristics are comprehensively analyzed and compared with those of homogeneous porous media. Moreover, the roles of the fractal dimension and porosity in permeability are quantitatively described. The results indicate that the pore structures of porous media significantly affect their seepage behaviors. The distributions of pressure and velocity in fractal porous media are both non-uniform;the streamline is no longer straight but tortuous. When Reynolds number Re < 1, the dimensionless permeability is independent of Reynolds number, but its further increase will lead to a smaller permeability. Moreover, due to the higher connectivity and enlarged equivalent aperture of internal channel network, the augment in porosity leads to the permeability enhancement, while it is small and insensitive to porosity variation when ε < 0.6. Fractal dimension also plays a significant role in the permeability of porous media. The increase in fractal dimension leads to the enhancement in pore connectivity and a decrease in channel tortuosity,which reduces the flow resistance and improves the transport capacity of porous media.

Fractal scaling of effective diffusion coefficient of solute in porous media

Fractal approach is used to derive a power law relation between effective diffusion coefficient of solute in porous media and the geometry parameter characterizing the media. The results are consistent with the empirical equations analogous to Archie`s law and are expected to be applied to prediction of effective diffusion coefficient. Key words: diffusion; effective diffusion coefficient; fractal; porous media.

A fractal approach to low velocity non-Darcy flow in a low permeability porous medium

In this paper, the mechanism for fluid flow at low velocity in a porous medium is analyzed based on plastic flow of oil in a reservoir and the fractal approach. The analytical expressions for flow rate and velocity of non-Newtonian fluid flow in the low permeability porous medium are derived, and the threshold pressure gradient （TPG） is also obtained. It is notable that the TPG （J） and permeability （K） of the porous medium analytically exhibit the scaling behavior J ~ K-D＇r/（l＋Or）, where DT is the fractal dimension for tortuous capillaries. The fractal characteristics of tortuosity for capillaries should be considered in analysis of non-Darcy flow in a low permeability porous medium. The model predictions of TPG show good agreement with those obtained by the available expression and experimental data. The proposed model may be conducible to a better understanding of the mechanism for nonlinear flow in the low permeability porous medium.

Tortuosity for streamlines in porous media

An analysis of tortuosity for streamlines in porous media is presented by coupling the circle and square models. It is assulued that some particles in porous media do not overlap and that fluid in porous media is incompressible. The relationship between tortuosity and porosity is attained with different configurations by using a statistical method. In addition, the tortuosity fractal dimension is expressed as a function of porosity. Those correlations do not include any empirical constant. The percolation threshold and tortuosity fractal dimension threshold of porous media are also presented as： φc = 0.32, DT,： = 1.07. The predicted correlations of the tortuosity and the porosity agree well with the existing experimental and simulated results.

Experimental study and theoretical analysis of fluid resistance in porous media of glass spheres

Porous media have a wide range of applications in production and life, as well as in science and technology. The study of flow resistance in porous media has a great effect on industrial and agricultural production. The flow resistance of fluid flow through a 20-mm glass sphere bed is studied experimentally. It is found that there is a significant deviation between the Ergun equation and the experimental data. A staggered pore-throat model is established to investigate the flow resistance in randomly packed porous media. A hypothesis is made that the particles are staggered in a regular triangle arrangement. An analytical formulation of the flow resistance in random porous media is derived. There are no empirical constants in the formulation and every parameter has a specific physical meaning. The formulation predictions are in good agreement with the experimental data. The deviation is within the range of 25%. This shows that the staggered pore-throat model is reasonable and is expected to be verified by more experiments and extended to other porous media.

ANOMALOUS DIFFUSION IN FRACTAL POROUS MEDIUM

Fractal media has many characteristics different from those of homogeneous media, it has a correlated self-similar structure. The particle diffusion in pore fractal is different from Fick' s diffusion, and its mean-squared displacement follows fractal scaling law. The model of particle diffusion in pore fractal by means of the statistics method of stochastic process is structured and some fractal characteristics and non-Markov property are proved.

Multifractal estimation of NMR T_(2) cut-off value in low-permeability rocks considering spectrum kurtosis: SMOTE-based oversampling integrated with machine learning

The transverse relaxation time (T_(2)) cut-off value plays a crucial role in nuclear magnetic resonance for identifying movable and immovable boundaries, evaluating permeability, and determining fluid saturation in petrophysical characterization of petroleum reservoirs. This study focuses on the systematic analysis of T_(2) spectra and T_(2) cut-off values in low-permeability reservoir rocks. Analysis of 36 low-permeability cores revealed a wide distribution of T_(2) cut-off values, ranging from 7 to 50 ms. Additionally, the T_(2) spectra exhibited multimodal characteristics, predominantly displaying unimodal and bimodal morphologies, with a few trimodal morphologies, which are inherently influenced by different pore types. Fractal characteristics of pore structure in fully water-saturated cores were captured through the T_(2) spectra, which were calculated using generalized fractal and multifractal theories. To augment the limited dataset of 36 cores, the synthetic minority oversampling technique was employed. Models for evaluating the T_(2) cut-off value were separately developed based on the classified T_(2) spectra, considering the number of peaks, and utilizing generalized fractal dimensions at the weight <0 and the singular intensity range. The underlying mechanism is that the singular intensity and generalized fractal dimensions at the weight <0 can detect the T_(2) spectral shift. However, the T_(2) spectral shift has negligible effects on multifractal spectrum function difference and generalized fractal dimensions at the weight >0. The primary objective of this work is to gain insights into the relationship between the kurtosis of the T_(2) spectrum and pore types, as well as to predict the T_(2) cut-off value of low-permeability rocks using machine learning and data augmentation techniques.

Grouting diffusion of chemical fluid flow in soil with fractal characteristics

The chemical fluid property and the capillary structure of soil are important factors that affect grouting diffusion. Ignoring either factor will produce large errors in understanding the inherent laws of the diffusion process. Based on fractal geometry and the constitutive equation of Herschel-Bulkley fluid, an analytical model for Herschel-Bulkley fluid flowing in a porous geo-material with fractal characteristics is derived. The proposed model provides a theoretical basis for grouting design and helps to understand the chemical fluid flow in soil in real environments. The results indicate that the predictions from the proposed model show good consistency with the literature data and application results. Grouting pressure decreases with increasing diffusion distance. Under the condition that the chemical fluid flows the same distance, the grouting pressure undergoes almost no change at first and then decreases nonlinearly with increasing tortuosity dimension. With increasing rheological index, the pressure difference first decreases linearly, then presents a trend of nonlinear decrease, and then decreases linearly again. The pressure difference gradually increases with increasing viscosity and yield stress of the chemical fluid. The decreasing trend of the grouting pressure difference is non-linear and rapid for porosity Φ>0.4, while there is a linear and slow decrease in pressure difference for high porosity.

Gas Diffusion in Bi-disperse Porous Catalyst Pellets

A flux equation of diffusion for bi-disperse porous catalyst pellets was proposed by modifying the previously developed model equation over fractal trajectories. The proposed fractal model equation considered the same tortuous degree for both micro-and macro-pores. The experimental data of diffusion over a bi-disperse Ni/gamma-alumina pellet were obtained with a standard Wicke-Kallenbach diffusion cell for both carbon monoxide- ethylene and carbon dioxide-ethylene binary mixtures. The fitting between experimental results and the fractal model equation leads to a fractal dimension of 1.11. The prediction of diffusion flux over the bi-disperse Ni/gamma- alumina pellet by the proposed fractal model equation is much better than the traditional tortuosity-based model equation by comparison with the measured flux through the pellet.

THE FLOW PROBLEM OF FLUIDS FLOW IN A FRACTAL RESERVOIR WITH DOUBLE POROSITY

The effective radius of oil well is introduced in the inner boundary in the problem of fluids flow through fractal reservoir with double porosity, and thus a new model is established. Taking the wellbore storage and steady-state skin effect into consideration, the exact solutions of the pressure distribution of fluids flow in fractal reservoirs with double porosity are given for the cases of an infinite outer boundary, a finite closed outer boundary and a bounded domain with the constant pressure outer boundary conditions. The pressure behavior of fractal reservoir with double porosity is analyzed by using a numerical inversion of the Laplace transform solution. The pressure responses of changing various parameters are discussed.

Determination of Effective Thermal Conductivity ForReal Porous Media Using Fractal Theory

In this paper, using fractal theory3 the geometric structure of real soil was described with its sectionview and section particle area fractal dimension d of porous media was counted. The volumetric solidcontent and the relation between volumetric solid content and porous media particle arrangementsas well as measure scale were obtainted. A heat conduction model was established and the effectivethermal conductivity of real soil based on the volumetric solid content was calculated.

A Protocol for Fractal Studies on Porosity of Porous Media: High Quality Soil Porosity Images

A protocol for obtaining digital images from natural porous media with a wide range of pore sizes, intended for fractal studies of the porosity, is proposed. Soil porosity is used as para- digm of complex natural porous media in this study. The use of several imaging devices and fluores- cent compounds to enhance the contrast between the solid and the pore phase is tested. Finally a protocol is reached using a photo camera and a confocal microscope. It is the first time that confocal microscopy is used for this purpose. Artificial porous images are created through random Sierpinski carpet fractals and the statistical information of real soil images. These ground truth images are used in an objective comparison of automatic segmentation algorithms for the obtained images. A statistical classification on the performance of several automatic segmentation algorithms for this tv^e of images is reached.

Permeability analysis and seepage process study on crystal layer in melt crystallization with fractal and porous media theory

In this paper a porous media seepage model was applied to analyze the permeability and study the seepage process of crystal pillar formed in the preparation of electronic grade phosphoric acid(EGPA).By inspecting the seeping process,the structure parameter of crystal pillar could be obtained.Two basic ideal models(perfectly separated model and perfectly connected model)were presented and a characterized factorφwas introduced to modify the model.A good simulation result was obtained which met the experiment result well.The relationship betweenφand permeability were also discussed.The characterized factorφshowed potential application on optimizing process.

Transient pressure analysis in porous and fractured fractal reservoirs

Fluid flow in porous and fractured fractal reservoirs is studied in the paper. The basic formulae of seepage velocity,permeability and porosity in both porous and fractured fractal media are developed. The pressure diffusion equation of slightly compressible fluid in fractal reservoirs is derived. The analytical solutions of the transient pressure are given for the line-source well and the well with well-bore storage and skin factor. The typical curves of pressure and the derivative of pressure are established,along with the interpretation of the well-testing method via type-curve matching. In addition,3-D pressure diffusion equations for anisotropic fractal media are given in both Cartesian coordinates and Cy-lindrical coordinates.

Analysis of the flow of non-Newtonian viscoelastic fluids in fractal reservoir with the fractional derivative

In this paper, fractional order derivative, fractal dimension and spectral dimension are introduced into the seepage flow mechanics to establish the relaxation models of non-Newtonian viscoelastic fluids with the fractional derivative in fractal reservoirs. A new type integral transform is introduced, and the flow characteristics of non-Newtonian viscoelastic fluids with the fractional order derivative through a fractal reservoir are studied by using the integral transform, the discrete Laplace transform of sequential fractional derivatives and the generalized Mittag-Leffler functions. Exact solutions are obtained for arbitrary fractional order derivative. The long-time and short-time asymptotic solutions for an infinite formation are also obtained. The pressure transient behavior of non-Newtonian viscoelastic fluids flow through an infinite fractal reservoir is studied by using the Stehfest's inversion method of the numerical Laplace transform. It is shown that the clearer the viscoelastic characteristics of the fluid, the more the fluid is sensitive to the order of the fractional derivative. The new type integral transform provides a new analytical tool for studying the seepage mechanics of fluid in fractal porous media.

Determination of effective thermal conductivity for polyurethane foam by use of fractal method

The microstructure of polyurethane foam is disordered, which influences the foam heat conduction process significantly. In this paper foam structure is described by using the local area fractal dimension in a certain small range of length scales. An equivalent element cell is constructed based on the local fractal dimensions along the directions parallel; transverse to the heat flux. By use of fractal void fraction a simplified heat conduction model is proposed to calculate the effective thermal conductivity of polyurethane foam. The predicted effective thermal conductivity agrees well with the experimental data.

THE FLOW ANALYSIS OF FLUIDS IN FRACTAL RESERVOIR WITH THE FRACTIONAL DERIVATIVE

In this paper, fractional order derivative, fractal dimension and spectral dimension are introduced into the seepage flow mechanics to establish the flow models of fluids in fractal reservoirs with the fractional derivative. The flow characteristics of fluids through a fractal reservoir with the fractional order derivative are studied by using the finite integral transform, the discrete Laplace transform of sequential fractional derivatives and the generalized Mittag-Leffler function. Exact solutions are obtained for arbitrary fractional order derivative. The long-time and short-time asymptotic solutions for an infinite formation are also obtained. The pressure transient behavior of fluids flow through an infinite fractal reservoir is studied by using the Stehfest＇s inversion method of the numerical Laplace transform. It shows that the order of the fractional derivative affect the whole pressure behavior, particularly, the effect of pressure behavior of the early-time stage is larger The new type flow model of fluid in fractal reservoir with fractional derivative is provided a new mathematical model for studying the seepage mechanics of fluid in fractal porous media.