Lattice Boltzmann Simulations of Single and Multi-Component Flow in Porous Media

Published

July 1, 1999

Author(s)

Nicos Martys, John G. Hagedorn, J E. Devaney

Abstract

We examine the utility of the lattice Boltzmann method for modeling fluid flow in porous media. First the lattice Boltzmann method is validated for the case of single component flow in several idealized flow geometries. Large scale simulations of fluid flow through digitized images of Fontainebleau sandstone, generated by X-ray microtomography, will then be presented. Reasonably good agreement was found when compared to experimentally determined values of permeability for similar rocks. We then discuss the modeling of multicomponent fluid systems. The critical properties of the binary mixture used in the fluid simulation is shown to be consistent with mean-field theory. Relative permeability curves as a function of fluid saturation and driving force are then to be presented. Values of permeability from three phase flows are compared to corresponding two phase values. In order to model flow in porous media that are well described by Darcy's law or have a large pore size variation, an extension of the lattice Boltzmann method for approximating the Brinkman equation will be described. Performance on several computing platforms is given.

Proceedings Title

Proceedings of SPIE

Volume

ume 3772

Conference Dates

July 23-22, 1999

Conference Title

Mesoscale Modeling: Techniques and Applications

Pub Type

Conferences

Keywords

Brinkman equation, critical phenomena, lattice Boltzmann, microtomography, parallel computing, permeability, porous media

Citation

Martys, N. , Hagedorn, J. and Devaney, J. (1999), Lattice Boltzmann Simulations of Single and Multi-Component Flow in Porous Media, Proceedings of SPIE (Accessed May 3, 2025)