Comparison of Field-Scale Effective Properties of Two-Phase Flow in Heterogeneous Porous Media Obtained by Stochastic Analysis and Numerical Experiments Metadata

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Title

  • Main Title Comparison of Field-Scale Effective Properties of Two-Phase Flow in Heterogeneous Porous Media Obtained by Stochastic Analysis and Numerical Experiments

Creator

  • Author: Zhou, Quanlin
    Creator Type: Personal
  • Author: Gelhar, Lynn W.
    Creator Type: Personal
  • Author: Jacobs, Bruce
    Creator Type: Personal

Contributor

  • Sponsor: United States. Department of Energy. Office of Science.
    Contributor Type: Organization
    Contributor Info: USDOE Director, Office of Science (United States)

Publisher

  • Name: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
    Place of Publication: Berkeley, California
    Additional Info: Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA (United States)

Date

  • Creation: 2002-05-31

Language

  • English

Description

  • Content Description: The effects of subsurface heterogeneity on two-phase flow can be observed from the characterization functions of field-scale effective relative permeability and capillary pressure with respect to mean saturation. Numerical experiments were used to evaluate such effective properties of two-phase flow in a heterogeneous medium with properties representing the Borden Aquifer, and compared with the results of stochastic analysis developed using a spectral perturbation technique that employs a stationary, stochastic representation of the spatial variability of soil properties. Arbitrary forms of the relative permeability and capillary pressure characteristic functions with respect to saturation can be used in the theoretical analysis and numerical code. A statistical scaling procedure, which is a generalization of Leverett scaling, was developed for the relationship between intrinsic permeability and two capillary parameters. The procedure for estimating the effective properties of two-phase flow using numerical simulation consists of three-steps. Firstly, a local-scale heterogeneous system with random fields of intrinsic permeability and two capillary parameters was generated. Secondly, numerical simulation of single-phase flow in the system, with different sets of flow boundary conditions for different directions, was performed; the field-scale effective saturated hydraulic conductivity tensor was calculated on the basis of the mean Darcy law. The tensor obtained numerically is very close to that determined using the generalized spectral-perturbation approximation. Finally, a number of numerical experiments on two-phase flow in the system were conducted with different infiltration rates of DNAPL; the field-scale effective relative permeability and capillary pressure functions were obtained. In each experiment, a highly heterogeneous saturation field was obtained, leading to large variations of actual nonwetting phase permeability (combination of intrinsic permeability and its positively correlated relative permeability). Both stochastic and numerical analyses produced very similar results of effective properties of multiphase flow. The vertical effective relative permeability is significantly lower than the homogeneous one found using mean capillary parameters, particularly at low mean DNAPL saturation (low mean capillary pressure). On the other hand, the effective capillary pressure function differs only slightly from the homogeneous case. Various statistical properties of local-scale NAPL saturation, capillary pressure and relative permeability and their relationships with intrinsic permeability and capillary parameters were analyzed in detail.
  • Physical Description: 13 pages

Subject

  • Keyword: Multiphase Flow
  • Keyword: Darcy Law
  • STI Subject Categories: 58 Geosciences
  • Keyword: Two-Phase Flow
  • Keyword: Boundary Conditions
  • Keyword: Soils
  • Keyword: Saturation
  • STI Subject Categories: 54 Environmental Sciences
  • Keyword: Permeability
  • Keyword: Simulation
  • Keyword: Hydraulic Conductivity

Source

  • Conference: International Groundwater Symposium on Bridging the Gap Between Measurements and Modeling in Heterogeneous Media, Berkeley, CA (US), 03/25/2002--03/28/2002

Collection

  • Name: Office of Scientific & Technical Information Technical Reports
    Code: OSTI

Institution

  • Name: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
    Code: UNTGD

Resource Type

  • Article

Format

  • Text

Identifier

  • Report No.: LBNL--50504
  • Grant Number: AC03-76SF00098
  • Office of Scientific & Technical Information Report Number: 822832
  • Archival Resource Key: ark:/67531/metadc778898

Note

  • Display Note: OSTI as DE00822832
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