Velocity fluctuations in slow flow through porous media

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, 1998.

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Van Genabeek, Olav (Olav Arnold)
Other Authors: Daniel H. Rothman.
Format: Thesis
Language:eng
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2010
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/58059
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author Van Genabeek, Olav (Olav Arnold)
author2 Daniel H. Rothman.
author_facet Daniel H. Rothman.
Van Genabeek, Olav (Olav Arnold)
author_sort Van Genabeek, Olav (Olav Arnold)
collection MIT
description Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, 1998.
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spelling mit-1721.1/580592019-04-12T13:29:23Z Velocity fluctuations in slow flow through porous media Van Genabeek, Olav (Olav Arnold) Daniel H. Rothman. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, 1998. Includes bibliographical references (p. 65-70). In this thesis, I study the spatial statistical properties of slow flow through porous media on the pore scale by a combination of numerical simulation and theoretical arguments. I demonstrate that the flow patterns undergo a transition from swirls to strongly focused and channel-like patterns for decreasing porosities. Not only is the flow in low-porosity media strongly focused, but the flow also possesses long-tailed, non-Gaussian velocity probability density distributions. A main result of our simulations is that the statistics of the flow through a single channel captures the entire flow, insofar as the patterns and probability distributions are concerned. I have constructed a simplified, phenomenological model for the fast part of the flow in random porous media. This model yields the desired exponential velocity distributions. For high porosities, I find that the statistical properties of the velocity fluctuations behave in a similar way as those observed in dilute suspensions flows: the swirls have a power-law dependency on the solid volume fraction, the correlation length is finite and has also a power-law dependency. I demonstrate that this scaling behavior is consistent with the predictions of theories. Finally, I study creeping flow through a single rough walled channel by numerical simulation and present a theory that predicts scale dependency of the permeability for tight fractures. by Olav van Genabeek. Ph.D. 2010-09-01T16:20:12Z 2010-09-01T16:20:12Z 1998 1998 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/58059 42520673 eng M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 70 p. application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Van Genabeek, Olav (Olav Arnold)
Velocity fluctuations in slow flow through porous media
title Velocity fluctuations in slow flow through porous media
title_full Velocity fluctuations in slow flow through porous media
title_fullStr Velocity fluctuations in slow flow through porous media
title_full_unstemmed Velocity fluctuations in slow flow through porous media
title_short Velocity fluctuations in slow flow through porous media
title_sort velocity fluctuations in slow flow through porous media
topic Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/58059
work_keys_str_mv AT vangenabeekolavolavarnold velocityfluctuationsinslowflowthroughporousmedia