A numerical and experimental study of two-phase flow and heat transfer in a porous formation with localized heating from below

Understanding and predicting two-phase flow and heat transfer in porous media is of fundamental interest for a number of engineering applications. Examples include thermal technologies for remediation of contaminated subsurfaces, the extraction of geothermal energy from vapor-dominated reservoirs, and the assessment of high-level nuclear waste repositories. A numerical and experimental study is reported for two-phase flow and heat transfer in a horizontal porous formation with water through flow and partial heating from below. Based on a newly developed two-phase mixture model, numerical results of the temperature distribution, liquid saturation, liquid and vapor phase velocity fields are presented for three representative cases with varying inlet velocities. It is found that the resulting two-phase structure and flow patterns are strongly dependent upon the water inlet velocity and the bottom heat flux. The former parameter measures the flow along the horizontal direction, while the latter creates a relative motion between the phases in the vertical direction. Experiments are also performed to measure temperature distributions and to visualize the two-phase flow patterns. Qualitative agreement between experiments and numerical predictions is achieved. Overall, this combined experimental and numerical study has provided new insight into conjugate single- and two-phase flow and heat transfer in porous media,more » although future research is required if accurate modeling of these complex problems is to be accomplished.« less