Flow through porous media: A procedure for locating the free surface

A finite element procedure is developed to accurately locate the free surface of unconfined seepage flow through porous media. The free surface is taken as the boundary between wet and dry soils, with flow in the saturated region characterized by Darcy's law. The method involves equations and meshing which are fully consistent with a general formulation for geotechnical engineering problems involving simultaneous solution of pore fluid pressures and soil skeleton displacements. Accuracy and versatility of the proposed procedure are demonstrated by solving various unconfined seepage flow problems through earth structures. Free surfaces and flownets are presented for the calculated flow fields.     

Seepage analysis in a zoned anisotropic medium by the boundary element method

A simple and effective extension to the boundary element method for solving Laplace'S equation (?²u = 0) for boundary value problems is presented to solve steady confined and (or) steady unconfined seepage problems in zoned anisotropic mediums. Sample problems indicating the accuracy of results are given.     

无压渗流问题分析的多节点有限元方法

采用基于平均值插值的多节点有限元方法分析有自由面渗流问题。在自由面附近采用多节点单元逼近自由面,利用平均值插值建立多节点单元的形函数,在远离自由面的区域采用四边形/三角形单元剖分。给定一个初始自由面位置,通过对渗流控制方程的多节点有限元求解,根据自由面上节点水头值判断自由面节点的调整方向和大小,最终迭代求出自由面的位置。土坝渗流问题的数值分析表明了所提方法的有效性和足够的计算精度。     

A 2D mixed fracture–pore seepage model and hydromechanical coupling for fractured porous media

A novel two-dimensional mixed fracture–pore seepage model for fluid flow in fractured porous media is presented based on the computational framework of finite-discrete element method (FDEM). The model consists of a porous seepage model in triangular elements bonded by unbroken joint elements, as well as a fracture seepage model in broken joint elements. The principle for determining the fluid exchange coefficient of the unbroken joint element is provided to ensure numerical accuracy and efficiency. The mixed fracture–pore seepage model provides a simple but effective tool for solving fluid flow in fractured porous media. In this paper, examples of 1D and 2D seepage flow in porous media and porous media with a single fracture or multiple fractures are studied. The simulation results of the model match well with theoretical solutions or results obtained by commercial software, which verifies the correctness of the mixed fracture–pore seepage model. Furthermore, combining FDEM mechanical calculation and the mixed fracture–pore seepage model, a coupled hydromechanical model is built to simulate fluid-driven dynamic propagation of cracks in the porous media, as well as its influence on pore seepage and fracture seepage.

     

Investigation of a hybrid polygonal finite element formulation for confined and unconfined seepage

This study presents a formulation for field problems using hybrid polygonal finite elements, taking steady state seepage through a porous material as the focus. We make comparisons with a conventional finite element formulation based on a single primary variable, focussing on the advantages of the hybrid formulation in terms of flux field accuracy and extension to convex polygonal shaped elements. For the unconfined case, we adopt a head dependent hydraulic conductivity that does not require remeshing. The performance of the hybrid polygonal element formulation is demonstrated through a series of numerical examples. The results show a sensitivity of the location of the free surface in unconfined seepage to mesh configuration for hybrid quadrilateral meshes with various aspect ratios, but not for hybrid polygonal meshes with various orientations and irregularity. Examination of the free surface location results for several conforming shape function options shows an insensitivity to choice of interpolation function, provided that it conforms with the assumptions in the formulation. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adaptive methods to solve free boundary problems of flow through porous media

Grid adaptive methods combined with domain adaptation are discussed for two-dimensional seepage flow problems with free boundaries through porous media. Examples of grid and domain adaptive methods are presented to demonstrate several ways to predict grids and shapes of free boundaries using an iterative scheme. Finally, the combined adaptive methods are applied to obtain smooth non-oscillatory shape of a free boundary of seepage flow through non-homogeneous porous media.     

Analytical solution to 1D coupled water infiltration and deformation in unsaturated soils

An analytical solution to 1D coupled water infiltration and deformation is derived using a Fourier integral transform. Exponential functional forms are used to represent the hydraulic conductivity–pore‐water pressure relationship and the soil‐water characteristic curve. Fredlund's incremental‐linear constitutive model for unsaturated soils is adopted. The analytical solution considers arbitrary initial pore‐water pressure distributions and flux and pressure boundary conditions. The corresponding analytical solutions to coupled steady‐state problems are also obtained. The analytical solutions demonstrate that the coupling of seepage and deformation plays an important role in water infiltration in unsaturated soils. In the early stages of infiltration, the difference between uncoupled and coupled conditions becomes marked over time, and in late stages, the difference caused by the coupling effects diminishes toward the steady state. The difference between the uncoupled and coupled conditions increases with decreasing desaturation coefficient (α). Pore‐water pressure or deformation changes caused by the coupling effects are mainly controlled by the degree of soil volume change due to a change in soil suction (H). The smaller the absolute value of H, the greater the effect of coupling on the infiltration and deformation. The ratio of rainfall intensity to saturated permeability (q/k_s) also has a strong influence on the coupled seepage and deformation. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

隧道开挖的双重介质水力耦合模型有限元分析

基于混合物理论孔隙-裂隙岩体的双重孔隙介质水力耦合计算的微分方程,利用伽辽金有限元法提出了相应的有限元公式,并基于岩体分类指标（RQD,RMR）提出了与岩体应变状态相关的渗透系数计算公式。编制了裂隙岩体双重介质流固耦合的2-D有限元程序,给出的验证算例表明,该程序是合理和实用的。同时将该程序用于隧道开挖的模拟计算,探讨渗流效应对开挖隧道围岩变形与渗流场的影响。计算结果表明,在隧道设计中不考虑渗流的影响是偏于不安全的。     

A virtual element method for the two-phase flow of immiscible fluids in porous media

A primal C⁰-conforming virtual element discretization for the approximation of the bidimensional two-phase flow of immiscible fluids in porous media using general polygonal meshes is discussed. This work investigates the potentialities of the Virtual Element Method (VEM) in solving this specific problem of immiscible fluids in porous media involving a time-dependent coupled system of non-linear partial differential equations. The performance of the fully discrete scheme is thoroughly analysed testing it on general meshes considering both a regular problem and more realistic benchmark problems that are of interest for physical and engineering applications.

     

Energy‐work‐based numerical manifold seepage analysis with an efficient scheme to locate the phreatic surface

A major challenge in seepage analysis is to locate the phreatic surface in an unconfined aquifer. The phreatic surface is unknown and assumed as a discontinuity separating the seepage domain into dry and wet parts, thus should be determined iteratively with special schemes. In this study, we systematically developed a new numerical manifold method (NMM) model for unconfined seepage analysis. The NMM is a general numerical method for modeling continuous and discontinuous deformation in a unified mathematical form. The novelty of our NMM model is rooted in the NMM two‐cover‐mesh system: the mathematical covers are fixed and the physical covers are adjusted with iterations to account for the discontinuity feature of the phreatic surface. We developed an energy‐work seepage model, which accommodates flexible approaches for boundary conditions and provides a form consistent with that in mechanical analysis with clarified physical meaning of the potential energy. In the framework of this energy‐work seepage model, we proposed a physical concept model (a pipe model) for constructing the penalty function used in the penalty method to uniformly deal with Dirichlet, Neumann, and material boundaries. The new NMM model was applied to study four example problems of unconfined seepage with varying geometric shape, boundary conditions, and material domains. The comparison of our simulation results to those of existing numerical models for these examples indicates that our NMM model can achieve a high accuracy and faster convergence speed with relatively coarse meshes. This NMM seepage model will be a key component of our future coupled hydro‐mechanical NMM model. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Weak discontinuity in porous media: an enriched EFG method for fully coupled layered porous media

In this paper, a series of multimaterial benchmark problems in saturated and partially saturated two‐phase and three‐phase deforming porous media are addressed. To solve the process of fluid flow in partially saturated porous media, a fully coupled three‐phase formulation is developed on the basis of available experimental relations for updating saturation and permeabilities during the analysis. The well‐known element free Galerkin mesh‐free method is adopted. The partition of unity property of MLS shape functions allows for the field variables to be extrinsically enriched by appropriate functions that introduce existing discontinuities in the solution field. Enrichment of the main unknowns including solid displacement, water phase pressure, and gas phase pressure are accounted for, and a suitable enrichment strategy for different discontinuity types are discussed. In the case of weak discontinuity, the enrichment technique previously used by Krongauz and Belytschko [Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng., 1998; 41:1215–1233] is selected. As these functions possess discontinuity in their first derivatives, they can be used for modeling material interfaces, generating only minor oscillations in derivative fields (strain and pressure gradients for multiphase porous media), as opposed to unenriched and constrained mesh‐free methods. Different problems of multimaterial poro‐elasticity including fully saturated, partially saturated one, and two‐phase flows under the assumption of fully coupled extended formulation of Biot are examined. As a further development, problems involved with both material interface and impermeable discontinuities, where no fluid exchange is permitted across the discontinuity, are considered and numerically discussed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

流固耦合问题及研究进展

传统的渗流理论一般假设流体流动的多孔介质骨架是完全刚性的,即在孔隙流体压力变化过程中,固体骨架不产生任何弹性或塑性变形,这时可将渗流作为非耦合问题来研究。这种简化虽然可以得到问题的近似解,但存在许多缺陷,而且也不切合生产实际。比如:在油田开采过程中,孔隙流体压力会逐渐降低,将导致储层内有效应力的变化,使储层产生变形。近年来,流固耦合问题越来越受到人们的重视,这方面的研究涉及许多领域。该文介绍了有关工程涉及到的流固耦合问题,重点针对油、气开采问题,介绍了储层流固耦合渗流的特点及研究方法和理论进展,包括单相、多相流体渗流的流固耦合数学模型及有限元数值模型。      

Numerical modeling of multiphase fluid flow in deforming porous media: A comparison between two- and three-phase models for seismic analysis of earth and rockfill dams

In this paper, a fully coupled numerical model is presented for the finite element analysis of the deforming porous medium interacting with the flow of two immiscible compressible wetting and non-wetting pore fluids. The governing equations involving coupled fluid flow and deformation processes in unsaturated soils are derived within the framework of the generalized Biot theory. The displacements of the solid phase, the pressure of the wetting phase and the capillary pressure are taken as the primary unknowns of the present formulation. The other variables are incorporated into the model using the experimentally determined functions that define the relationship between the hydraulic properties of the porous medium, i.e. saturation, relative permeability and capillary pressure. It is worth mentioning that the imposition of various boundary conditions is feasible notwithstanding the choice of the primary variables. The modified Pastor–Zienkiewicz generalized constitutive model is introduced into the mathematical formulation to simulate the mechanical behavior of the unsaturated soil. The accuracy of the proposed mathematical model for analyzing coupled fluid flows in porous media is verified by the resolution of several numerical examples for which previous solutions are known. Finally, the performance of the computational algorithm in modeling of large-scale porous media problems including the large elasto-plastic deformations is demonstrated through the fully coupled analysis of the failure of two earth and rockfill dams. Furthermore, the three-phase model is compared to its simplified one which simulates the unsaturated porous medium as a two-phase one with static air phase. The paper illustrates the shortcomings of the commonly used simplified approach in the context of seismic analysis of two earth and rockfill dams. It is shown that accounting the pore air as an independent phase significantly influences the unsaturated soil behavior.     

有自由面渗流分析的三维数值流形方法

提出了求解有自由面渗流问题的三维数值流形方法,通过构造任意形状流形单元的水头函数,推导了流形单元的渗透矩阵和无压渗流分析的总体控制方程,并给出了自由面的迭代求解策略和渗透体积力的计算方法。典型算例的数值分析表明,该方法采用数学网格覆盖整个材料区域,在自由面的迭代求解过程中数学网格保持不变,只考虑自由面以下渗流区的介质,只对自由面以下的流形单元形成总体渗透矩阵,具有精度高、收敛速度快、编程简单等优点,而且能够通过单纯形积分精确计算被自由面穿越单元的渗透作用力,因此,特别适用于有自由面渗流问题的模拟。     

储层多孔介质波动渗流力学研究进展与挑战

随着石油工业对低渗、特低渗、稠油、超稠油、小断块、薄油层及高含水等复杂油藏开发的不断加强,波动强化采油技术作为一项高效低成本、不伤害储层、不污染环境的储层增产增注新技术,具有广阔的发展与应用前景.基于对国内外相关成果的广泛调研,揭示了弹性波作用下储层渗流动力学机制是提高波动强化采油技术矿场应用效果的关键,阐述了在弹性波作用下波动渗流力学与传统孔隙介质弹性波传播理论和经典油水渗流力学之间的本质差异,分析了定量描述储层多孔介质波动渗流动力学机理与规律的主要难点,总结了储层波动渗流力学研究的最新进展,展望了波动渗流力学理论研究需要进一步解决的重点问题.      

A practical and efficient numerical scheme for the analysis of steady state unconfined seepage flows

The scaled boundary finite‐element method (SBFEM), a novel semi‐analytical technique, is applied to the analysis of the confined and unconfined seepage flow. This method combines the advantages of the finite‐element method and the boundary element method. In this method, only the boundary of the domain is discretized; no fundamental solution is required, and singularity problems can be modeled rigorously. Anisotropic and nonhomogeneous materials satisfying similarity are modeled without additional efforts. In this paper, SBFE equations and solution procedures for the analysis of seepage flow are outlined. The accuracy of the proposed method in modeling singularity problems is demonstrated by analyzing seepage flow under a concrete dam with a cutoff at heel. As only the boundary is discretized, the variable mesh technique is advisable for modeling unconfined seepage analyses. The accuracy, effectiveness, and efficiency of the method are demonstrated by modeling several unconfined seepage flow problems. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

三维稳定渗流的 p 型自适应有限元分析

建立了三维稳定渗流的p型自适应有限元分析的误差估计器。充分利用p型有限元前处理少、计算精度高和收敛速度快的优点，分析了p型有限元法求解渗流问题的技术特点，给出了求解三维稳定渗流的自适应升阶策略。通过具体算例，研究了单元阶次及网格尺度对计算结果的影响，验证了三维p型有限元法在求解渗流问题时的可行性。     

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.     

A new parabolic variational inequality formulation of Signorini's condition for non‐steady seepage problems with complex seepage control systems

By extending Darcy's law to the dry domain above the free surface and specifying the boundary condition on the potential seepage surfaces as Signorini's type, a partial differential equation (PDE) defined in the entire domain of interest is formulated for non‐steady seepage flow problems with free surfaces. A new parabolic variational inequality (PVI) formulation equivalent to the PDE formulation is then proposed, in which the flux part of the complementary condition of Signorini's type in the PDE formulation is transformed into natural boundary condition. Consequently, the singularity at the seepage points is eliminated and the difficulty in selecting the trial functions is significantly reduced. By introducing an adaptive penalized Heaviside function in the finite element analysis, the numerical stability of the discrete PVI formulation is well guaranteed. The proposed approach is validated by the existing laboratory tests with sudden rise and dropdown of water heads, and then applied to capture the non‐steady seepage flow behaviors in a homogeneous rectangular dam with five drainage tunnels during a linear dropdown of upstream water head. The non‐steady seepage flow in the surrounding rocks of the underground powerhouse in the Shuibuya Hydropower Project is further modeled, in which a complex seepage control system is involved. Comparisons with the in situ monitoring data show that the calculation results well illustrate the non‐steady seepage flow process during impounding and the operation of the reservoir as well as the seepage control effects of the drainage hole arrays and drainage tunnels. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.