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Anomalous Dispersion in Pore-Scale Simulations of Two-Phase Flow

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Abstract

We investigate anomalous dispersion in steady-state two-phase flow though a random, artificial porous domain. A natural distribution of trapped wetting-phase fluid was obtained via two-phase lattice Boltzmann drainage simulations. To avoid spurious velocities, accurate inter-pore velocity fields were derived via additional one-phase lattice Boltzmann simulations incorporating slip boundary conditions imposed at various interfaces. The nature of the active dispersion at various timescales was subsequently studied via random walk particle tracking. For our system, results show persistent anomalous dispersion that depends strongly on the assumed molecular diffusivity and the initial positions of tracer particles. Imposing slip versus no-slip boundary conditions on fluid–fluid interfaces made no observable difference to results, indicating that observed anomalous dispersion resulted primarily from the complex flow network induced by the trapped fluid phase.

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Acknowledgements

This research was made possible by a Kyushu University, International Institute for Carbon Neutral Energy Research (\(\hbox {I}^{2}\hbox {CNER}\)), Competitive Funding Initiative on Applied Math for Energy Project Grant. We would also like to express thanks for financial support via NSF Grants EAR-1351625, EAR-1446236 and CBET-1803989, as well as a JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (16K18331).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Mathematics for Industry, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan

    Dimetre Triadis

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yamaguchi University, Ube, Japan

    Fei Jiang

  3. CO2 Storage Division, International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research (WPI-I2CNER), Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan

    Fei Jiang

  4. Blue energy center for SGE technology (BEST), Yamaguchi University, Ube, Japan

    Fei Jiang

  5. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA

    Diogo Bolster

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  1. Dimetre Triadis
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Correspondence to Dimetre Triadis.

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Triadis, D., Jiang, F. & Bolster, D. Anomalous Dispersion in Pore-Scale Simulations of Two-Phase Flow. Transp Porous Med 126, 337–353 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-018-1155-6

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