Hydro‐mechanical modeling of cohesive crack propagation in multiphase porous media using the extended finite element method

In this paper, a numerical model is developed for the fully coupled hydro‐mechanical analysis of deformable, progressively fracturing porous media interacting with the flow of two immiscible, compressible wetting and non‐wetting pore fluids, in which the coupling between various processes is taken into account. The governing equations involving the coupled solid skeleton deformation and two‐phase fluid flow in partially saturated porous media including cohesive cracks are derived within the framework of the generalized Biot theory. The fluid flow within the crack is simulated using the Darcy law in which the permeability variation with porosity because of the cracking of the solid skeleton is accounted. The cohesive crack model is integrated into the numerical modeling by means of which the nonlinear fracture processes occurring along the fracture process zone are simulated. The solid phase displacement, the wetting phase pressure and the capillary pressure are taken as the primary variables of the three‐phase formulation. The other variables are incorporated into the model via the experimentally determined functions, which specify the relationship between the hydraulic properties of the fracturing porous medium, that is saturation, permeability and capillary pressure. The spatial discretization is implemented by employing the extended finite element method, and the time domain discretization is performed using the generalized Newmark scheme to derive the final system of fully coupled nonlinear equations of the hydro‐mechanical problem. It is illustrated that by allowing for the interaction between various processes, that is the solid skeleton deformation, the wetting and the non‐wetting pore fluid flow and the cohesive crack propagation, the effect of the presence of the geomechanical discontinuity can be completely captured. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A numerical model for nonlinear large deformation dynamic analysis of unsaturated porous media including hydraulic hysteresis

A numerical model based on the theory of mixtures is proposed for the nonlinear dynamic analysis of flow and deformation in unsaturated porous media. Starting from the conservation laws, the governing differential equations and the finite element incremental approximations suitable for nonlinear large deformation static and dynamic analyses are derived within the updated Lagrangian framework. The coupling between solid and fluid phases is enforced according to the effective stress principle taking suction dependency of the effective stress parameter into account. The effect of hydraulic hysteresis on the effective stress parameter and soil water characteristic curve is also taken into account. The application of the approach is demonstrated through numerical analyses of several fundamental nonlinear problems and the results are compared to the relevant analytical solutions. The effects of suction, large deformations and hydraulic hysteresis on static and dynamic response of unsaturated soils are particularly emphasized.     

二维饱和土体动态孔隙率及相关动力响应特性研究

饱和多孔介质的动力响应研究在众多工程领域具有重要意义。充分考虑孔隙率的变化规律与影响因素,有利于合理揭示饱和多孔介质的相关力学行为。为此,将动态孔隙率模型与用于表征饱和多孔介质动力特性的u-U-p型方程结合,构建相应的非线性力学模型,利用Comsol Multiphysis PDE求取相应的数值解,以此研究不同透水条件下,受谐波载荷激励的二维饱和土体的孔隙率、变形量及孔隙水压力的变化规律。结果表明：孔隙率的变化与土骨架的体应变及孔隙水压力直接相关,土体压缩过程中,孔隙率相应减小,土骨架与孔隙流体的相互作用增强,土体运动时所受阻力增大,其无量纲竖向位移小于孔隙率被视为常数时的情况,在此条件下,由于土体的变形量减小,其孔隙水压力也相对减小。故充分考虑动态孔隙率,有利于更加精确地研究等饱土体和多孔介质的相关力学行为。此外,土体上表面透水条件下,孔隙流体可以从土体表面自由排出,土骨架承受的载荷更大,与不透水条件相比,土体孔隙率、竖向位移、孔隙水压力等变化更为显著。     

Parallel simulations of pore-scale flow through porous media

Smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) is a versatile technique which can be applied to single and multiphase flow through porous media. The versatility of SPH is offset by its computational expense which limits the practicability of SPH for large problems involving low Reynolds number flow. A parallel pore-scale numerical model based on SPH is described for modeling flow phenomena in porous media. Aspects of SPH which complicate parallelization are emphasized. The speed of the method is demonstrated to be proportional to the number of processors for test cases where load balance was achieved. The parallel algorithm permits the application of SPH to more complicated porous media problems than previously considered. For such problems, best performance is achieved when several soil grains are simulated by each processor. Finally, future applications of the method and possible extensions are discussed.     

三相耦合渗流侵蚀管涌机制研究及有限元模拟

管涌的发生、发展过程是土骨架相在渗流作用下侵蚀为可动细颗粒相,并随水相在孔隙通道中运移流失的过程。在该过程中,渗流与侵蚀相互耦合,相互促进,水相、土相、可动细颗粒相互作用,因此,管涌过程是一个多场、多相耦合的高度非线性的动态过程。现有的管涌试验结果表明,只有当水力梯度大于起始水力梯度时,细颗粒相才会随水相从土体中运移流失,土体才会发生管涌侵蚀,且管涌稳定后土体的孔隙率（稳定孔隙率）和水力梯度之间存在对应关系,根据该结果,提出管涌稳定孔隙率的概念,修正传统的渗流侵蚀本构方程,建立多孔介质中三相耦合的修正的渗流侵蚀管涌控制方程。最后,针对特定应力状态下的土体建立稳定孔隙率和水力梯度之间的对应关系。基于Galerkin有限元法编制有限元程序,在轴对称情况下对该土体的管涌过程进行数值模拟。结果表明,修正后的管涌控制方程能更全面地描述管涌发生、发展直至稳定状态的特性。     

Numerical modelling of multiphase immiscible flow in double‐porosity featured groundwater systems

A numerical model describing the flow of multiphase, immiscible fluids in a deformable, double‐porosity featured soil has been developed. The model is focused on the modelling of the secondary porosity features in soil, which is more relevant to groundwater contamination problems. The non‐linear saturation and relative permeabilities were expressed as functions of the capillary pressures. The governing partial differential equations in terms of soil displacement and fluid pressures were solved numerically. Galerkin's weighted‐residual finite element method was employed to obtain the spatial discretization whereas temporal discretization was achieved using a fully implicit scheme. The model was verified against established, peer‐reviewed works, and the assumption that the immiscible fluids (non‐aqueous phase liquids) will flow preferentially through the secondary porosity features in soil was validated. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A pore-scale numerical model for flow through porous media

A pore-scale numerical model based on Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) is described for modelling fluid flow phenomena in porous media. Originally developed for astrophysics applications, SPH is extended to model incompressible flows of low Reynolds number as encountered in groundwater flow systems. In this paper, an overview of SPH is provided and the required modifications for modelling flow through porous media are described, including treatment of viscosity, equation of state, and no-slip boundary conditions. The performance of the model is demonstrated for two-dimensional flow through idealized porous media composed of spatially periodic square and hexagonal arrays of cylinders. The results are in close agreement with solutions obtained using the finite element method and published solutions in the literature. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical modeling of strongly coupled microscale multiphase flow and solid deformation

When fluid flows in porous media under subsurface conditions, significant deformation can occur. Such deformation is dependent on structural and phase characteristics. In this paper, we investigate the effect of multiphase flow on the deformation of porous media at the pore scale by implementing a strongly coupled partitioned solver discretized with finite volume (FV) technique. Specifically, the role of capillary forces on grain deformation in porous media is investigated. The fluid and solid subdomains are meshed using unstructured independent grids. The model is applied for solving multiphase coupled equations and is capable of capturing pore scale physics during primary drainage by solving the Navier-Stokes equation and advecting fluid indicator function using volume of fluid (VOF) while the fluid is interacting with a nonlinear elastic solid matrix. The convergence of the coupled solver is accelerated by Aitken underrelaxation. We also reproduce geomechanical stress conditions, at the pore scale, by applying uniaxial stress on the solid while simultaneously solving the multiphase fluid-solid interaction problem to investigate the effect of external stress on fluid occupancy, velocity-field distribution, and relative permeability. We observe that the solid matrix exhibits elasto-capillary behavior during the drainage sequence. Relative permeability endpoints are shifted on the basis of the external stress exerted.     

An upscaling method and a numerical analysis of swelling/shrinking processes in a compacted bentonite/sand mixture

This paper presents an upscaling concept of swelling/shrinking processes of a compacted bentonite/sand mixture, which also applies to swelling of porous media in general. A constitutive approach for highly compacted bentonite/sand mixture is developed accordingly. The concept is based on the diffuse double layer theory and connects microstructural properties of the bentonite as well as chemical properties of the pore fluid with swelling potential. Main factors influencing the swelling potential of bentonite, i.e. variation of water content, dry density, chemical composition of pore fluid, as well as the microstructures and the amount of swelling minerals are taken into account. According to the proposed model, porosity is divided into interparticle and interlayer porosity. Swelling is the potential of interlayer porosity increase, which reveals itself as volume change in the case of free expansion, or turns to be swelling pressure in the case of constrained swelling. The constitutive equations for swelling/shrinking are implemented in the software GeoSys/RockFlow as a new chemo‐hydro‐mechanical model, which is able to simulate isothermal multiphase flow in bentonite. Details of the mathematical and numerical multiphase flow formulations, as well as the code implementation are described. The proposed model is verified using experimental data of tests on a highly compacted bentonite/sand mixture. Comparison of the 1D modelling results with the experimental data evidences the capability of the proposed model to satisfactorily predict free swelling of the material under investigation. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

饱和多孔介质材料的应变局部化萌生条件

在单相介质和非渗流饱和多孔介质应变局部化萌生条件的基础上,应用饱和多孔介质控制方程和Liapunov稳定理论,导出了渗流条件下的固相应力-应变描述和有效应力-应变描述的多孔介质固相部分的应变局部化的萌生条件。不同应力描述下的萌生条件的形式有一定变化。应用简单算例,讨论了Terzaghi有效应力描述的应变局部化萌生条件中两种固、液相对运动特例下的饱和多孔介质应变局部化破坏的形式。     

Finite element modelling of three-phase flow in deforming saturated oil reservoirs

A numerical simulation is presented for three-dimensional three-phase fluid flow in a deforming saturated oil reservoir. The mathematical formulation describes a fully coupled governing equation systen which consists of the equilibrium and continuity equations for three immiscible fluids flowing in a porous medium. An elastoplastic soil model, based on a Mohr–Coulomb yield surface, is used. The finite element method is applied to obtain simultaneous solutions to the governing equations where displacement and fluid pressures are the primary unknowns. The final discretized equations are solved by a direct solver using fully implicit procedures. The developed model is used to investigate the problems of three-phase fluid flow in a deforming saturated oil reservoir.     

可压缩流体饱和孔隙介质中孔隙压力波传播数值分析

首次将高精度时空守恒元/解元方法推广到可压缩流体饱和孔隙介质中孔隙压力波传播的数值计算中。将孔隙度梯度从源（汇）项中分离,直接引入流通量,改进了理论模型。通过对孔隙介质激波问题的数值模拟,验证了方法的精度和有效性。在此基础上,提出了孔隙介质中二维黎曼问题,并揭示了孔隙压力波存在接触间断、激波、膨胀波、压缩波等复杂的结构特征。该成果对二氧化碳地质封存、二氧化碳提高石油采收率、页岩气压裂开采以及地震破裂过程的研究具有重要的理论与应用意义。     

Influence of gas generation in electro‐osmosis consolidation

This paper presents a numerical model for the elasto‐plastic electro‐osmosis consolidation of unsaturated clays experiencing large strains, by considering electro‐osmosis and hydro‐mechanical flows in a deformable multiphase porous medium. The coupled governing equations involving the pore water flow, pore gas flow, electric flow and mechanical deformation in unsaturated clays are derived within the framework of averaging theory and solved numerically using finite elements. The displacements of the solid phase, the pressure of the water phase, the pressure of the gas phase and the electric potential are taken as the primary unknowns in the proposed model. The nonlinear variation of transport parameters during electro‐osmosis consolidation are incorporated into the model using empirical expressions that strongly depend on the degree of water saturation, whereas the Barcelona Basic Model is employed to simulate the elasto‐plastic mechanical behaviour of unsaturated clays. The accuracy of the proposed model is evaluated by validating it against two well‐known numerical examples, involving electro‐osmosis and unsaturated soil behaviour respectively. Two further examples are then investigated to study the capability of the computational algorithm in modelling multiphase flow in electro‐osmosis consolidation. Finally, the effects of gas generation at the anode, the deformation characteristics, the degree of saturation and the time dependent evolution of the excess pore pressure are discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical simulation of flow processes in liquefied soils using a soil–water-coupled smoothed particle hydrodynamics method

Liquefaction can result in the damage or collapse of structures during an earthquake and can therefore be a great threat to life and property. Many site investigations of liquefaction disasters are needed to study the large-scale deformation and flow mechanisms of liquefied soils that can be used for performance assessments and infrastructure improvement. To overcome the disadvantages of traditional flow analysis methods for liquefied soils, a soil–water-coupled smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) modeling method was developed to analyze flow in liquefied soils. In the proposed SPH method, water and soil were simulated as different layers, while permeability, porosity, and interaction forces could be combined to model water-saturated porous media. A simple shear test was simulated using the SPH method with an elastic model to verify its application to solid phase materials. Subsequently, the applicability of the proposed SPH modeling method to the simulation of interaction forces between water and soil was verified by a falling-head permeability test. The coupled SPH method produced good simulations for both the simple shear and falling-head permeability tests. Using a fit-for-purpose experimental apparatus, a physical flow model test of liquefied sand has been designed and conducted. To complement the physical test, a numerical simulation has been undertaken based on the soil–water-coupled SPH method. The numerical results correspond well with the physical model test results in observed configurations and velocity vectors. An embankment failure in northern Sweden was selected so that the application of the soil–water-coupled SPH method could be extended to an actual example of liquefaction. The coupled SPH method simulated the embankment failure with the site investigation well. They have also estimated horizontal displacements and velocities, which can be used to greatly improve the seismic safety of structures.     

Three dimensional simulation of fluid flow in X‐ray CT images of porous media

A numerical scheme is developed in order to simulate fluid flow in three dimensional (3‐D) microstructures. The governing equations for steady incompressible flow are solved using the semi‐implicit method for pressure‐linked equations (SIMPLE) finite difference scheme within a non‐staggered grid system that represents the 3‐D microstructure. This system allows solving the governing equations using only one computational cell. The numerical scheme is verified through simulating fluid flow in idealized 3‐D microstructures with known closed form solutions for permeability. The numerical factors affecting the solution in terms of convergence and accuracy are also discussed. These factors include the resolution of the analysed microstructure and the truncation criterion. Fluid flow in 2‐D X‐ray computed tomography (CT) images of real porous media microstructure is also simulated using this numerical model. These real microstructures include field cores of asphalt mixes, laboratory linear kneading compactor (LKC) specimens, and laboratory Superpave gyratory compactor (SGC) specimens. The numerical results for the permeability of the real microstructures are compared with the results from closed form solutions. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A numerical study on the impact of thermal alterations in porous media during hot fluid injection process employing a modified Boussinesq model

The Oberbeck-Boussinesq (OB) approximation is widely employed as a simplifying assumption for density-dependent flow problems. It reduces the governing differential equations to simpler forms, which can be handled analytically or numerically. In this study, a modified OB model is formulated to account for the variation of rock permeability and porosity with temperature during the hot fluid injection process in an oil-saturated porous medium under the assumption of local thermal equilibrium (LTE). The mathematical model is solved numerically using a fully implicit control volume finite difference discretization with the successive over relaxation (SOR) method to handle the non-linearity. Subsequently, the numerical model is validated with the analytical solution of the simplified problem successfully. Through detailed sensitivity analyses, the simulation results reveal the hot fluid injection rate as the most important operational parameter to be optimized for a successful thermal flood. The numerical runs show that that for single-phase core-flood simulation, the effect of temperature on the rock absolute permeability and porosity can be neglected without introducing any significant errors in the estimated recovery and temperature profile.     

A novel finite element double porosity model for multiphase flow through deformable fractured porous media

Based on the theory of double-porosity, a novel mathematical model for multiphase fluid flow in a deforming fractured reservoir is developed. The present formulation, consisting of both the equilibrium and continuity equations, accounts for the significant influence of coupling between fluid flow and solid deformation, usually ignored in the reservoir simulation literature. A Galerkin-based finite element method is applied to discretize the governing equations both in the space and time domain. Throughout the derived set of equations the solid displacements as well as the fluid pressure values are considered as the primary unknowns and may be used to determine other reservoir parameters such as stresses, saturations, etc. The final set of equations represents a highly non-linear system as the elements of the coefficient matrices are updated during each iteration in terms of the independent variables. The model is employed to solve a field scale example where the results are compared to those of ten other uncoupled models. The results illustrate a significantly different behaviour for the case of a reservoir where the impact of coupling is also considered. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An analytical solution for the transient response of saturated porous elastic solids

The general forms for the field equations governing the transient response of poroelastic media given by Biot and by Zienkiewicz are compared and relations between the material constants are obtained. A one-dimensional analytical solution is presented for the situation where the solid and fluid materials satisfy Biot'S dynamic compatibility relation. The transient response of porous media is illustrated for varying degrees of solid and fluid compressibility when subjected to step, cyclic and short duration spike surface tractions. The results obtained (for the special situation where the materials are dynamically compatible) exhibit the overall characteristics of wave propagation in porous media and will provide representative test problems which allow a quantitative evaluation of the accuracy of various numerical solution methods (e.g. finite element models).     

考虑非达西效应的酸蚀裂缝流场数值模拟

酸压改造后的酸蚀裂缝是储层流体的主要流动通道,研究流体在酸蚀裂缝中的流动规律是十分必要的。本文介绍了目前裂隙流动研究中的4种常用控制方程及各自的适用条件,确定了Navier-Stokes方程为酸蚀裂缝流场数值模拟的控制方程。为了分析酸蚀裂缝流场分布规律以及非达西效应对裂缝导流能力的影响,利用逆向工程技术对两种不同刻蚀形态的酸蚀岩样壁面进行了实体重构,并采用有限元数值模拟方法进行了不同流量下的酸蚀裂缝流动试验。结果表明：酸刻蚀形态和裂缝接触关系对流场分布的影响较大。隙宽分布平滑的均匀刻蚀裂缝,其流态稳定、曲折度低,但由于裂缝开度较窄且比表面较高,边界层效应明显,流体流动时产生的黏滞阻力较高;沟槽裂缝曲面粗糙,隙宽分布复杂,流体流动时流态不稳定,曲折度高,在高流量下会产生明显的涡流流动,增大惯性阻力。裂缝通道存在缩颈现象会引起流体绕流和多次加减速,产生额外的压力损耗。随着模拟流量的增大,压降与流量会逐渐偏离线性关系而呈现出非达西流动现象。酸蚀裂缝壁面越粗糙,产生非达西效应时的临界流量和临界雷诺数就越小,在相同流量下非达西效应就越强烈,导流能力下降速率更快。     

SPH法在大坝表孔泄流数值模拟中的应用

主要对光滑粒子流体动力学(SPH)法进行研究,建立了大坝表孔泄流的光滑粒子模型。将SPH数学模型应用于拉西瓦水电站表孔泄流中,提出了采用补水边界的方法来满足库区恒定水位条件,模拟了表孔泄流的流场变化及粒子运动过程。通过与物理模型实测的压力值比较,堰表面压力变化基本一致。对模拟结果进行分析,表明光滑粒子流体动力学可用于高速水流的计算模拟研究。