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Received 30 July 1999; received in revised form 26 August 2002; accepted 17 September 2002
Abstract
This simulation employs Monte Carlo technique for studying fluid flow through a porous medium in the capillary regime. The
medium has been modelled as a 2 or 3-dimensional network of elements, some of which are randomly closed to the fluid flow.
Dijkstra’s algorithm has been employed to identify the least-resistance pathway, which is instrumental in determining the minimum
pressure required to achieve break-through across the network. At higher pressures, network resistance has been calculated by
determining the manner in which the cluster forms and by accounting for the nature of flowpaths. The simulation yields a linear
relationship between the pressure applied across the network and flowrate showing similarity to Darcy’s law. Polynominal fitting of
the data on the fraction of openable pores open as dependent on pressure applied across the network has been carried out and the
coefficients determined.
# 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Monte Carlo; Simulation; Porous media; Fluid flow; Darcy’s law; Scaling
Nomenclature
Small letters
fb fraction of pores that have been blocked
n number of flowpaths present
r capillary radius
sg size of the grid along one dimension or side
Capital letters
Pa applied pressure (on inlet face of network)
Pc capillary pressure
Pcr break-through pressure
Pmax maximum pressure
Q total flowrate
Qi flowrate of ith flowpath
Qmax maximum flowrate through the network
Rc radius of curvature of meniscus
Ri resistance of i th flowpath
Greek symbols
s surface tension
f contact angle
Fig. 1. Particles ‘a’ and ‘b’ are trapped in the medium due to
orientation of arrows.
pore and the source distance of the neighbouring pore ‘opened-up’ and the ‘flow resistance’ of the pore already
(that has just been popped from the queue), if the value a part of some existing flowpath. ‘Flow resistance’ of a
of the latter is smaller (Cormen, Leiserson & Rivest, pore is defined as the cumulative resistance of all the
2000). pores starting from the pore under consideration to a
After all the pores have been assigned the minimum pore on the exit face. Other than the above mentioned
possible source distance value, the source distance of all case, there is a distinct possibility of the existence of
pores on the exit face is compared and the one having multiple series of pores that have opened up from a pore
the least value is selected. This is the value of resistance inside the network and joined existing flowpaths. In
of the ‘least resistant pathway’ or the ‘break-through’ order to take into account the branching of flow from
pressure required across the network. such pores, the resistance of each branch is computed
For a pathway to exist between the entry and exit face separately by linear addition of the resistances of the
of the network, the value of ‘break-through’ pressure pores that have ‘opened-up’ (starting at the pore from
must be finite. If a pathway has been found, the which the branching begins till a pore which is an
elements are stored in order of their appearance in the immediate neighbour of a pore whose status is ‘part of a
percolation path and consequently, the order in which flowpath’) with the ‘flow-resistance’ of the pore which is
they will be filled up by the fluid. a ‘part of a flowpath’. Thus, the ‘flow resistance’ of the
pore from which the branching begins is the parallel
3.3. Opening of a node summation of the resistances of all the branches from
that pore onwards. The effective resistance of the
The next step is to carry out a depth-first search ‘dependent flowpath’ is thus the linear addition of the
across all pores having finite resistance which have resistances of all pores from the entry face to the pore
opened up. A pore is deemed to have ‘opened-up’ when from which branching begins and the ‘flow resistance’ of
its capillary pressure is smaller than the effective that pore.
pressure available at that pore. Effective pressure at a
pore is the difference of the cumulative resistance of all 3.5. Flowrate
pores that precede the current pore from the applied
pressure across the network. The recursion for a pore In the case of an actual porous medium, the physical
ends when the capillary resistance is greater than the quantity ‘flowrate’ is defined only when the fluid
effective pressure or all adjacent pores having finite actually exits from the pores at the end opposite to the
resistance have been explored. one at which it entered (assuming 1-dimensional perco-
The pressure is incremented in steps until all the pores lation). The simulated network, in reality, has several
that have finite resistance and are reachable have exit points, each of which has its own flowrate. The
‘opened-up’. Although the pressure is incremented flowrate through the network is defined as the cumula-
slowly, at a given increment there can be multiple pores tive flowrate from all the pores on the exit face.
that ‘open-up’. This is similar to the morphological In this simulation, mass and volume conservation
approach used to study fractal dimensions (Hilpert & have been assumed to hold. The pores do not rupture in
Miller, 2001). the pressure range being studied. Since fluid enters from
one face and leaves from the opposite face, the
3.4. Additional flowpath determination cumulative flowrate could be alternatively defined as
the sum of the flowrates entering the network through
The process of repeatedly increasing applied pressure the pores on the entry face.
would eventually lead to other flowpaths opening up. A When the first flowpath is obtained (using Dijkstra’s
new flowpath comes into existence when an independent algorithm), the net flowrate through it (and in this case,
or dependent flowpath comes into existence. An ‘in- through the network) is zero. As the inlet pressure is
dependent flowpath’ consists of a series of pores that increased, a new sequence of pores starts getting filled
have ‘opened-up’ from the entry to the exit face, while a by the fluid, which may result in another flowpath
‘dependent flowpath’ is a sequence of pores from the joining one of the existing flowpath or flowpaths
entry face to a pore already part of an existing flowpath. emerging from the exit face. All flowpaths have the
The resistance offered by an ‘independent flowpath’ is same inlet and outlet pressures at any given time and
the sum of the resistances of all pores that form the vary only in their individual resistances. Thus, the net
flowpath from the entry to the exit face. pressure driving force across a particular path, rather
For a ‘dependent flowpath’, the simplest case would than the inlet pressure is taken for calculation of the
involve just one sequence of pores from the entry face to flowrate. The flowrate through a path is then computed
a pore already part of an existing flowpath. Here, the by dividing the driving force by the path resistance.
resistance of the newly opened flowpath equals the
cumulative resistance of all pores that have just recently Pi Pa Ri (4)
390 S. Jain et al. / Computers and Chemical Engineering 27 (2003) 385 /400
Fig. 4. Fraction of openable pores open vs. applied pressure for a 150 /150 grid at 20 % blockage. Continuous line represents the least-squares
averaged trend line.
Fig. 5. Flowrate vs. applied pressure for a 150/150 grid at 20% blockage. Continuous line represents the least squares averaged trend line.
Qi Pi =Ri (5) attained, the matrix is regenerated and the process
repeated a few dozen times over.
The total flowrate is then the sum of individual
flowrates and can be expressed as
3.6. Constraints
X
n
Q Qi (6) The random nature of the trials causes variation in the
1 values of ‘break-through’ and ‘maximum’ pressures.
Both these pressures vary with matrix size and fraction
The flowrate is calculated each time a pressure of pores blocked-off.
increment is made and also a new pore ‘opens up’. The choice of matrix size and blocked fraction is
The pressure after which no more pores open up is dictated by two factors */computer memory size and
called ‘maximum pressure’. Once ‘maximum pressure’ is critical phase fraction values. The memory factor limits
S. Jain et al. / Computers and Chemical Engineering 27 (2003) 385 /400 391
Fig. 6. Fraction of openable pores open vs. Applied pressure for 80/80 grid at 30% blockage. Continuous line represents the least-square averaged
trend line.
Fig. 7. Flowrate vs. applied pressure for 80/80 grid at 30 % blockage. Continuous line represents the least-squares averaged trend line.
Fig. 8. Fraction of openable pores open vs. applied pressure for 70/70 grid at 40% blockage. Continuous line represents the least-squares averaged
trend line.
Fig. 9. Flowrate vs. applied pressure for a 70/70 grid at 40% blockage. Continuous line represents the least-squares averaged trend line.
imum values. These values were assumed to be 1 and 10, 7, 9 and 11). In these plots, the values of the y -intercept
respectively. The pseudo-random numbers are used for must be negative. It is indicative of the fact that only at a
assigning values to the required throat diameters, so that certain finite positive pressure does the flow through the
those are uncorrelated, i.e. the size of one throat is porous medium begin to take place. The values of
independent of the size of any other throat. Porous parameters that have been estimated using linear least-
media may have polymodal and/or spatially correlated squares technique, show a consistency in the predicted
pore size distributions, that can also be handled by the values regardless of the matrix size for a specified
model, but these are not considered in this work. blockage fraction (Tables 1/5). Due to simulation
The flowrate vs. applied pressure relationships ob- time constraints we could not carry out runs at grid
tained from the model for different sets of parameters sizes greater than 200 for 2-dimensional networks.
show a linear dependence similar to Darcy’s law (Figs. 5, However looking at the graphs of the dominant para-
S. Jain et al. / Computers and Chemical Engineering 27 (2003) 385 /400 393
Fig. 10. Fraction of openable pores open vs. applied pressure for 18/18/18 grid at 40% blockage. Continuous line represents the least-squares
averaged trend line.
Fig. 11. Flowrate vs. applied pressure for a 18/18/18 grid at 40% blockage. Continuous line represents the least-squares averaged trend line.
meter vs. grid size (Fig. 12) and cumulative flowrate vs. are not ‘blocked-off’.
grid size at a specific applied pressure (Fig. 13), we For 2-dimensional systems;
believe that an infinite medium can be simulated (7)
satisfactorily in the 200/300 grid size range for 2- Openable Pores s2g (1fb )
dimensional networks. For 3-dimensional systems;
The flowrate is dependent on the number of flowpaths (8)
Openable Pores s3g (1fb )
and that in turn on the accessible porosity of the
FOPO APO=Openable Pores (9)
medium. In our view, fraction of openable pores open
(FOPO) is a good measure of the accessible porosity. To On plotting FOPO vs. applied pressure for different
calculate FOPO, we noted the actual number of pores configurations, i.e. grid sizes and blockage fractions, we
that have ‘opened-up’ (APO) while incrementing the note an initial linear rising trend, attaining an asympto-
pressure and then divided it by the number of pores that tic value subsequently (Figs. 4, 6, 8 and 10). This trend is
394
Table 1
Values of coefficients for fraction of openable pores open and flowrate for 2 and 3-dimensional grids at blockage of 20%
R2 R2
P6 P5 P4 P3 P2 P1 P0 P1 P0
2 40 /3.00E/16 1.00E/12 /1.00E/09 7.00E/07 /2.00E/04 3.28E/02 /9.49E/02 0.9089 4.89 /29.30 4863.60 0.8195
50 /8.00E/17 3.00E/13 /4.00E/10 3.00E/07 /1.00E/04 2.52E/02 /8.47E/01 0.9306 5.98 /40.76 5935.94 0.7727
60 /2.00E/17 1.00E/13 /2.00E/10 2.00E/07 /9.00E/05 2.08E/02 /8.66E/01 0.9441 7.81 /47.56 7760.15 0.8829
70 /9.00E/18 5.00E/14 /1.00E/10 1.00E/07 /6.00E/05 1.72E/02 /8.27E/01 0.9539 9.28 /41.79 9235.21 0.9014
80 /4.00E/18 2.00E/14 /6.00E/11 7.00E/08 /5.00E/05 1.46E/02 /8.03E/01 0.9606 10.51 /48.02 10456.98 0.9080
90 /2.00E/18 1.00E/14 /3.00E/11 5.00E/08 /3.00E/05 1.25E/02 /7.73E/01 0.9641 11.65 /81.98 11567.02 0.8840
100 /8.00E/19 6.00E/15 /2.00E/11 3.00E/08 /3.00E/05 1.11E/02 /7.65E/01 0.9679 12.88 /77.17 12797.83 0.9263
120 /2.00E/19 2.00E/15 /8.00E/12 2.00E/08 /2.00E/05 8.60E/02 /7.08E/01 0.9746 16.79 /44.28 16744.72 0.9195
150 /4.00E/20 5.00E/16 /3.00E/12 7.00E/09 /9.00E/06 6.40E/02 /6.58E/01 0.9780 21.10 /353.29 20744.71 0.9570
175 /5.00E/21 1.00E/16 /8.00E/13 3.00E/09 /5.00E/06 4.60E/02 /5.15E/01 0.9777 23.58 /259.32 23324.68 0.9112
190 1.00E/20 /2.00E/16 6.00E/13 /6.00E/10 /1.00E/06 2.50E/02 /2.16E/01 0.9727 26.98 /590.17 26384.83 0.9728
200 1.00E/20 /1.00E/16 5.00E/13 /6.00E/10 /8.00E/07 2.20E/02 /1.85E/01 0.9748 28.20 /120.83 28082.17 0.9568
3 10 /2.00E/13 2.00E/10 /8.00E/08 2.00E/05 /1.50E/03 7.16E/02 /2.30E/01 0.9821 11.45 /99.17 11349.83 0.9570
11 /3.00E/14 5.00E/11 /2.00E/08 6.00E/06 /8.00E/04 4.88E/02 /1.03E/01 0.9496 13.97 /77.61 13892.40 0.9681
12 /2.00E/14 3.00E/11 /2.00E/08 4.00E/06 /6.00E/04 4.28E/02 /8.75E/02 0.9644 17.06 /96.06 16959.95 0.9729
13 /1.00E/15 2.00E/11 /1.00E/08 3.00E/06 /5.00E/04 3.75E/02 /8.07E/02 0.9680 20.25 /110.19 20136.81 0.9679
14 /5.00E/15 8.00E/12 /6.00E/09 2.00E/06 /4.00E/04 3.14E/02 /2.83E/02 0.9735 23.28 /85.03 23297.97 0.9680
15 /2.00E/15 5.00E/12 /4.00E/09 1.00E/06 /3.00E/04 2.89E/02 /4.22E/02 0.9752 27.24 /143.68 27097.32 0.9765
16 /1.00E/15 3.00E/12 /2.00E/09 1.00E/06 /2.00E/04 2.46E/02 /2.17E/02 0.9799 30.44 /164.09 30276.91 0.9786
17 /4.00E/16 1.00E/12 /1.00E/09 6.00E/07 /2.00E/04 2.10E/02 1.70E/03 0.9805 35.76 /187.90 35573.10 0.9842
18 /3.00E/17 3.00E/13 /5.00E/10 4.00E/07 /1.00E/04 1.77E/02 3.88E/02 0.9831 39.38 /212.43 39162.57 0.9805
19 1.00E/16 1.00E/13 /9.00E/11 2.00E/07 /7.00E/05 1.45E/02 /4.50E/03 0.9637 44.23 /252.98 43973.02 0.9725
20 8.00E/17 /8.00E/14 /6.00E/11 1.00E/07 /6.00E/05 1.31E/02 8.50E/03 0.9670 50.05 /283.51 49761.49 0.9684
R2 represents the regression coefficient values. Q represents the value of flowrate at an applied pressure of 1000 units. FOPO (Pa) /P6P6a/P5P5a/P4P4a/P3P3a/P2P2a/P1Pa/P0, Flowrate (Pa) /
P1Pa/P0, Q/P1/1000/P0.
Table 2
Values of coefficients for fraction of openable pores open and flowrate for 2- and 3-dimensional grids at blockage of 25 %
P6 P5 P4 P3 P2 P1 P0 P1 P0
2 40 /3.00E/16 8.00E/13 /1.00E/09 6.00E/07 /2.00E/04 3.05E/02 /8.67E/01 0.8789 3.37 /23.16 3344.14 0.7737
50 /7.00E/17 3.00E/13 /4.00E/10 3.00E/07 /1.00E/04 2.46E/02 /9.09E/01 0.9162 4.60 /23.86 4575.55 0.7250
60 /2.00E/17 1.00E/13 /2.00E/10 2.00E/07 /8.00E/05 2.01E/02 /8.97E/01 0.9325 5.33 /34.30 5298.41 0.8331
70 /8.00E/18 4.00E/14 /9.00E/11 1.00E/07 /6.00E/05 1.70E/02 /8.84E/01 0.9444 6.22 /49.19 6174.31 0.7869
80 /4.00E/18 2.00E/14 /5.00E/11 7.00E/08 /4.00E/05 1.49E/02 /8.95E/01 0.9540 7.58 /38.44 7540.87 0.8264
90 /2.00E/18 1.00E/14 /3.00E/11 4.00E/08 /3.00E/05 1.28E/02 /8.39E/01 0.9618 8.93 /123.30 8811.10 0.8281
100 /8.00E/19 6.00E/15 /2.00E/11 3.00E/08 /3.00E/05 1.11E/02 /8.45E/01 0.9626 9.06 /54.21 9007.69 0.8748
120 /2.00E/19 2.00E/15 /8.00E/12 2.00E/08 /2.00E/05 8.60E/03 /7.74E/01 0.9710 12.04 /141.63 11902.57 0.9463
150 /4.00E/20 5.00E/16 /3.00E/12 7.00E/09 /9.00E/06 6.40E/03 /7.25E/01 0.9761 14.72 /67.14 14647.86 0.8777
175 /9.00E/21 /6.00E/17 /4.00E/14 1.00E/09 /3.00E/06 3.80E/03 /4.23E/01 0.9708 16.81 /1.86 16810.14 0.9140
200 9.00E/21 /1.00E/16 4.00E/13 /2.00E/10 /1.00E/06 2.50E/03 /2.67E/01 0.9715 21.83 /103.21 21725.79 0.9471
3 10 /2.00E/13 2.00E/10 /7.00E/08 1.00E/05 /1.50E/03 7.05E/02 /2.24E/01 0.9696 10.30 /46.54 10253.47 0.9596
11 /4.00E/14 5.00E/11 /2.00E/08 6.00E/06 /8.00E/04 5.07E/02 /1.47E/01 0.9550 11.34 /61.61 11282.40 0.9627
12 /2.00E/14 3.00E/11 /2.00E/08 4.00E/06 /6.00E/04 4.34E/02 /1.12E/01 0.9602 13.95 /79.27 13873.73 0.9470
13 /1.00E/14 2.00E/11 /1.00E/08 3.00E/06 /5.00E/04 3.83E/02 /1.06E/01 0.9673 16.49 /94.49 16392.51 0.9704
14 /5.00E/15 9.00E/12 /6.00E/09 2.00E/06 /4.00E/04 3.43E/02 /1.03E/01 0.9694 19.91 /111.98 19796.02 0.9684
15 /3.00E/15 5.00E/12 /4.00E/09 1.00E/06 /3.00E/04 2.91E/02 /6.88E/02 0.9726 21.35 /127.20 21222.80 0.9694
16 /1.00E/15 3.00E/12 /2.00E/09 1.00E/06 /2.00E/04 2.60E/02 /5.82E/02 0.9774 25.06 /146.22 24916.78 0.9800
17 /6.00E/16 1.00E/12 /1.00E/09 1.00E/07 /2.00E/04 2.23E/02 /2.82E/02 0.9813 27.20 /160.49 27038.51 0.9834
18 /2.00E/16 7.00E/13 /8.00E/10 5.00E/07 /1.00E/04 1.97E/02 /1.02E/02 0.9816 30.77 /183.64 30585.36 0.9806
19 1.00E/16 /6.00E/14 /2.00E/10 2.00E/07 /8.00E/05 1.56E/02 /3.82E/02 0.9596 34.90 /216.07 34680.93 0.9673
20 2.00E/16 /2.00E/13 2.00E/11 1.00E/07 /6.00E/05 1.38E/02 /1.75E/02 0.9642 38.75 /244.84 38504.16 0.9660
R2 represents the regression coefficient values. Q represents the value of flowrate at an applied pressure of 1000 units. POPO (Pa) /P6P6a/P5P5a/P4P4a/P3P3a/P2P2a/P1Pa/P0, Flowrate (Pa) /
P1Pa/P0, Q/P1/1000/P0.
395
396
Table 3
Values of coefficients for fraction of openable pores open and flowrate for 2- and 3-dimensional grids at blockage of 30 %
R2 R2
P6 P5 P4 P3 P2 P1 P0 P1 P0
2 40 /2.00E/16 6.00E/13 /7.00E/10 5.00E/07 /2.00E/04 2.64E/02 /7.83E/01 0.8487 2.39 /22.77 2363.33 0.6176
50 /5.00E/17 2.00E/13 /3.00E/10 2.00E/07 /1.00E/04 2.14E/02 /8.51E/01 0.8784 3.12 /19.96 3104.14 0.6818
60 /9.00E/18 5.00E/14 /9.00E/11 1.00E/07 /5.00E/05 1.54E/02 /7.23E/01 0.8944 3.43 /28.82 3396.98 0.7054
70 /5.00E/18 3.00E/14 /6.00E/11 7.00E/08 /4.00E/05 1.44E/02 /8.11E/01 0.9227 4.04 /34.01 4004.39 0.8041
80 /2.00E/18 1.00E/14 /4.00E/11 5.00E/08 /3.00E/05 1.26E/02 /7.98E/01 0.9203 4.72 /20.15 4698.95 0.7591
90 /9.00E/19 7.00E/15 /2.00E/11 3.00E/08 /3.00E/05 1.09E/02 /8.05E/01 0.9383 5.43 /40.26 5392.14 0.8179
100 /4.00E/19 3.00E/15 /1.00E/11 2.00E/08 /2.00E/05 9.60E/03 /7.90E/01 0.9534 6.90 /48.15 6855.05 0.8026
120 /1.00E/19 1.00E/15 /6.00E/12 1.00E/08 /1.00E/05 8.00E/03 /7.87E/01 0.9572 7.84 /39.59 7804.61 0.8617
150 /2.00E/20 2.00E/16 /2.00E/12 5.00E/09 /8.00E/06 6.00E/03 /7.42E/01 0.9679 10.44 /126.99 10316.01 0.8970
175 /1.00E/21 6.00E/17 /6.00E/13 2.00E/09 /5.00E/06 4.40E/03 /6.10E/01 0.9728 13.02 /34.94 12980.06 0.9100
190 1.00E/20 /1.00E/16 5.00E/13 /5.00E/10 /1.00E/06 2.40E/03 /2.68E/02 0.9657 12.42 /71.08 12352.92 0.8820
200 1.00E/20 /1.00E/16 6.00E/13 /9.00E/10 /2.00E/07 1.80E/03 /1.83E/01 0.9643 13.69 /144.91 13544.09 0.8988
3 10 /5.00E/14 6.00E/11 /3.00E/08 7.00E/06 /8.00E/04 4.90E/02 /7.78E/02 0.9693 7.63 /68.05 7558.55 0.9357
11 /3.00E/14 4.00E/11 /2.00E/08 6.00E/06 /8.00E/04 5.16E/02 /1.93E/01 0.9671 9.69 /78.84 9615.77 0.9626
12 /2.00E/14 3.00E/11 /2.00E/08 4.00E/06 /6.00E/04 4.44E/02 /1.51E/01 0.9558 10.75 /72.81 10680.19 0.9530
13 /1.00E/14 2.00E/11 /1.00E/08 3.00E/06 /5.00E/04 4.01E/02 /1.52E/01 0.9599 12.98 /86.76 12896.24 0.9738
14 /5.00E/15 9.00E/12 /6.00E/09 2.00E/06 /4.00E/04 3.43E/02 /1.22E/01 0.9885 14.71 /98.58 14614.42 0.9621
15 /3.00E/15 5.00E/12 /4.00E/09 2.00E/06 /3.00E/04 3.06E/02 /1.12E/01 0.9732 16.80 /114.86 16684.14 0.9601
16 /2.00E/15 4.00E/12 /3.00E/09 1.00E/06 /3.00E/03 2.80E/02 /1.13E/01 0.9723 18.70 /123.03 18576.97 0.9706
17 /3.00E/12 6.00E/09 /6.00E/06 /2.80E/03 /6.85E/01 8.28E/01 /2.70E/02 0.9777 21.56 /141.11 21415.89 0.9740
18 /3.00E/16 9.00E/13 /1.00E/09 5.00E/07 /2.00E/04 2.11E/02 /5.63E/01 0.9628 24.47 /137.24 24334.76 0.9765
19 8.00E/18 2.00E/13 /4.00E/10 3.00E/07 /1.00E/04 1.77E/02 /9.66E/02 0.9581 27.45 /191.75 27262.25 0.9839
20 1.00E/16 /6.00E/14 /1.00E/10 2.00E/07 /8.00E/05 1.55E/02 /6.76E/02 0.9613 30.88 /213.58 30666.42 0.9707
R2 represents the regression coefficient values. Q represents the value of flowrate at an applied pressure of 1000 units. FOPO (Pa) /P6P6a/P5P5a/P4P4a/P3P3a/P2P2a/P1Pa/P0, Flowrate (Pa) /
P1Pa/P0, Q /P1/1000/P0
Table 4
Values of coefficients for Fraction of Openable Pores Open and Flowrate for 2- and 3-dimensional grids at blockage of 35 %
P6 P5 P4 P3 P2 P1 P0 P1 P0
2 40 /2.00E/16 5.00E/13 /6.00E/10 3.00E/07 /1.00E/04 1.95E/02 /5.43E/01 0.6144 1.30 /21.16 1275.94 0.4851
50 /9.00E/18 5.00E/14 /9.00E/11 9.00E/08 /5.00E/05 1.31E/02 /4.75E/01 0.7336 1.80 /16.92 1784.38 0.5058
60 /4.00E/17 5.00E/14 1.00E/10 1.00E/07 /5.00E/05 1.97E/02 7.44E/02 0.7235 2.05 /41.64 2010.56 0.5494
70 /7.00E/19 7.00E/15 /2.00E/11 3.00E/08 /2.00E/05 9.70E/03 /5.72E/01 0.8182 2.32 /20.71 2300.49 0.5519
80 /1.00E/18 9.00E/15 /2.00E/11 3.00E/08 /3.00E/05 1.00E/02 /6.96E/01 0.8293 3.11 /22.08 3088.02 0.7216
90 2.00E/19 /5.00E/16 /1.00E/12 6.00E/09 /9.00E/06 5.60E/03 /3.58E/01 0.8645 4.22 /19.90 4196.30 0.7665
100 /4.00E/19 3.00E/15 /9.00E/12 1.00E/08 /1.00E/05 6.70E/03 /5.38E/01 0.8276 4.38 /108.20 4268.90 0.6773
120 1.00E/19 /7.00E/16 1.00E/12 3.00E/10 /4.00E/06 4.00E/03 /3.82E/01 0.8983 4.97 /129.83 4842.57 0.7234
150 6.00E/20 /5.00E/16 2.00E/12 /2.00E/09 /2.00E/07 2.20E/03 /2.43E/01 0.9486 5.95 /83.84 5861.36 0.7084
175 2.00E/20 /3.00E/16 1.00E/12 /2.00E/09 1.00E/06 9.00E/04 /5.20E/03 0.8808 7.86 /483.51 7372.69 0.8720
200 1.00E/20 /2.00E/16 8.00E/13 /2.00E/09 1.00E/06 9.00E/04 /6.94E/02 0.9425 /425.30 8163.10 8163.1 0.8574
3 10 /1.00E/13 1.00E/10 /6.00E/08 1.00E/05 /1.30E/03 6.77E/02 /2.74E/01 0.9703 5.62 /49.53 5572.47 0.9240
11 /2.00E/14 3.00E/11 /2.00E/08 5.00E/06 /7.00E/04 4.52E/02 /1.61E/01 0.9570 6.63 /41.61 6591.19 0.9507
12 /2.00E/14 3.00E/11 /1.00E/08 4.00E/06 /6.00E/04 4.47E/02 /1.83E/01 0.9499 8.18 /60.93 8120.87 0.9574
13 /1.00E/14 2.00E/11 /1.00E/08 3.00E/06 /5.00E/04 4.11E/02 /1.94E/01 0.9511 9.54 /72.61 9470.10 0.9595
14 /6.00E/15 1.00E/11 /7.00E/09 2.00E/06 /4.00E/04 3.63E/02 /1.78E/01 0.9645 10.97 /82.84 10887.16 0.9451
15 /3.00E/15 6.00E/12 /4.00E/09 2.00E/06 /3.00E/04 3.22E/02 /1.59E/01 0.9680 12.78 /92.88 12691.12 0.9546
16 /2.00E/15 4.00E/12 /3.00E/09 1.00E/06 /3.00E/04 2.90E/02 /1.47E/01 0.9690 15.49 /116.15 15377.85 0.9662
17 /1.00E/15 2.00E/12 /2.00E/09 9.00E/07 /2.00E/04 2.57E/02 /1.22E/01 0.9729 16.74 /134.24 16608.76 0.9692
18 /6.00E/16 1.00E/12 /1.00E/09 7.00E/07 /2.00E/04 2.43E/02 /1.64E/01 0.9755 14.01 /114.95 13890.05 0.9836
19 /2.00E/16 6.00E/13 /7.00E/10 4.00E/07 /1.00E/04 2.03E/02 /1.71E/01 0.9558 20.71 /162.10 20543.90 0.9772
20 8.00E/17 4.00E/15 /2.00E/10 2.00E/07 /9.00E/05 1.68E/02 /1.11E/01 0.9565 22.93 /182.16 22747.84 0.9680
R2 represents the regression coefficient values. Q represents the value of flowrate at an applied pressure of 1000 units. POPO (Pa) /P6P6a/P5P5a/P4P4a/P3P3a/P2P2a/P1Pa/P0, Flowrate (Pa) /
P1Pa/P0, Q /P1/1000/P0.
397
398
Table 5
Values of coefficients for Fraction of Openable Pores Open and Flowrate for 2- and 3-dimensional grids at blockage of 40 %
P6 P5 P4 P3 P2 P1 P0 P1 P0
2 40 /4.00E/17 1.00E/13 /1.00E/10 1.00E/07 /4.00E/05 8.40E/03 /7.93E/02 0.4145 0.53 /4.57 525.53 0.1420
50 /4.00E/18 6.00E/15 9.00E/13 /5.00E/09 5.00E/07 1.50E/03 3.15E/01 0.3538 1.11 /48.56 1060.84 0.4811
60 /2.00E/17 7.00E/14 /1.00E/10 1.00E/07 6.00E/05 1.48E/02 /8.78E/01 0.4960 0.93 /39.81 894.19 0.3329
70 /6.00E/19 4.00E/15 /1.00E/11 1.00E/08 1.00E/05 4.80E/03 /1.93E/01 0.5226 0.96 /83.53 880.97 0.2412
80 /4.00E/18 /2.00E/14 4.00E/11 /4.00E/08 2.00E/05 /2.00E/03 3.63E/01 0.5690 1.35 /90.05 1262.75 0.3091
90 8.00E/19 /5.00E/15 1.00E/11 /1.00E/08 5.00E/06 1.00E/04 1.93E/01 0.6605 2.42 /97.95 2317.45 0.3922
100 /7.00E/19 5.00E/15 /1.00E/11 2.00E/08 /1.00E/05 4.80E/03 /3.47E/01 0.5954 1.78 /65.86 1709.44 0.3082
120 3.00E/19 /2.00E/15 5.00E/12 /5.00E/09 3.00E/07 2.40E/03 /3.62E/01 0.6712 3.07 /871.17 2197.03 0.3891
150 2.00E/19 /2.00E/15 6.00E/12 /1.00E/08 1.00E/05 /6.60E/03 1.59E/00 0.6274 3.85 /153.03 3697.67 0.5664
175 1.00E/20 /1.00E/16 7.00E/13 /2.00E/09 3.00E/06 /7.20E/03 5.66E/01 0.6346 5.01 /983.12 4029.18 0.5165
3 10 /5.00E/14 6.00E/11 /3.00E/08 7.00E/06 /9.00E/04 5.27E/02 /1.81E/01 0.9378 3.90 /24.87 3870.13 0.9471
11 /3.00E/14 5.00E/11 /2.00E/08 6.00E/06 /8.00E/04 5.28E/02 /2.68E/01 0.9569 5.20 /46.21 5154.49 0.9255
12 /2.00E/14 3.00E/11 /2.00E/08 4.00E/06 /7.00E/04 4.64E/02 /2.34E/01 0.9445 5.83 /49.80 5782.70 0.9363
13 /1.00E/14 2.00E/11 /1.00E/08 3.00E/06 /5.00E/04 4.19E/02 /2.45E/01 0.9559 7.19 /59.08 7134.32 0.9373
14 /6.00E/15 1.00E/11 /7.00E/09 2.00E/06 /4.00E/04 3.78E/02 /2.35E/01 0.9605 8.34 /70.91 8266.79 0.9439
15 /3.00E/15 6.00E/12 /5.00E/09 2.00E/06 /4.00E/04 3.40E/02 /2.27E/01 0.9638 9.60 /80.99 9519.11 0.9582
16 /2.00E/15 4.00E/12 /3.00E/09 1.00E/06 /3.00E/03 3.00E/03 /1.96E/01 0.9664 11.03 /91.04 10934.97 0.9712
17 /1.00E/15 3.00E/12 /2.00E/09 1.00E/06 /2.00E/04 2.76E/02 /1.94E/01 0.9715 12.25 /101.36 12148.64 0.9659
18 /6.00E/16 1.00E/12 /1.00E/09 7.00E/07 /2.00E/04 2.43E/02 /1.64E/01 0.9738 14.01 /114.95 13890.05 0.9703
19 /3.00E/16 8.00E/13 /9.00E/10 5.00E/07 /1.00E/04 2.17E/02 /2.19E/01 0.9470 16.06 /136.46 15924.54 0.9639
20 /7.00E/17 3.00E/13 /5.00E/10 3.00E/07 /1.00E/04 1.91E/02 /1.85E/01 0.9520 17.28 /150.29 17129.71 0.9755
R2 represents the regression coefficient values. Q represents the value of flowrate at an applied pressure of 1000 units. POPO (Pa) /P6P6a/P5P5a/P4P4a/P3P3a/P2P2a/P1Pa/P0, Flowrate (Pa)/
P1Pa/P0, Q /P1/1000/P0.
S. Jain et al. / Computers and Chemical Engineering 27 (2003) 385 /400 399
Fig. 12. Slope of flowrate vs. grid size at different blockage fractions. Simulations with grid size 40 and above rate for 2-dimensional grids, while
stimulations smaller than this size were for 3-dimensional grids.
Fig. 13. Flowrate vs. grid size at different blockage fractions at an applied pressure of 1000 units. Simulations with grid size 40 and above were for 2-
dimensional grids while simulations smaller than this size were for 3-dimensional grids.
expected and holds irrespective of the grid size or the 5). This observation is in line with the fact that an ideal
fraction of pores blocked. This is similar to the observed simulation would have all grid dimensions as infinite.
trend when calculated cumulative mercury intrusion At low blocked fractions, there are few chances of
volume was plotted against applied pressure (Bryntes- pores with finite resistance being surrounded by
son, 2002). When the least-squares analysis is conducted ‘blocked-off’ pores. Thus all pores having finite resis-
and seven parameters of the polynomial estimated, it is tance can be considered ‘openable’. The asymptotic
observed that the parameter values gradually attain value of FOPO attained in all such cases is near 1 (Figs.
asymptotic values on increasing the grid size (Tables 1/ 4 and 6). As the blockage fraction increases, the
400 S. Jain et al. / Computers and Chemical Engineering 27 (2003) 385 /400
probability of finite- resistance pores being surrounded because theoretically an infinite number of runs are
by ‘blocked-off’ pores is higher and thus, a greater required before presenting any trend.
variation is seen in the asymptotic values of FOPO. This Further work in this field would include extension of
observation is most stark at blockage values within 5% the simulation to the region of Hagen /Poiseulle flow,
of the critical value (Fig. 8). This observation can be where the resistance is inversely related to the fourth
explained by the fact that near critical values there is a power of the radius of the element. The resistance
sharp decrease in the probability of finding a flowpath, beyond the laminar flow region decreases slightly and
the implication being that there is a greater variation in then reaches a constant value at very high flowrates in
the probability of finding a flowpath for a given the turbulent zone. This can be modelled as two separate
configuration. For this to be true, it would be natural flow regions, with elements having different (but con-
to expect a greater variation in the asymptotic value of stant) resistances in each region.
the openable pores. These observations have been
validated by the regression analysis while computing
the parameter values. The R2 trend values indicate that Acknowledgements
there is greater deviation from 1 at blockage fractions
near critical values, particularly at low grid sizes (Tables We are grateful to Dr M.N. Gupta, Senior Manager,
1 /5). As grid size increases the R2 values improve Computer Services Centre, IIT, Delhi, for the generous
indicating that the simulation is closer to that of an allocation of computational time. We would also like to
infinite medium. thank all staff members of CSC, IIT, Delhi, for their
cooperation throughout this project. In particular, we
would like to mention Mr. Gopal Krishen, the system
programmer, and Mr. Gulshan Naveriya, the hardware
5. Conclusions
engineer, for their invaluable assistance.
This simulation is a simplified but innovative way of
dealing with flow through porous media. Using the
References
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