Pore-scale simulations on relative permeabilities of porous media by lattice Boltzmann method

Abstract Pore-scale simulations of two phase flows in a packed-sphere bed and in a carbon paper gas diffusion layer (GDL) are carried out using the free energy multiphase lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). The simulations are performed based on the detailed microstructure of the porous media under periodic boundary conditions such that the average phase saturations in the porous medium remain constant. A comparison of the simulated and measured relative permeabilities for the packed sphere bed as a function of non-wetting phase saturation is performed, and effects of the wettability and the anisotropic characteristics of relative permeabilities of the GDL are investigated.

[1]  Hubert A. Gasteiger,et al.  Handbook of fuel cells : fundamentals technology and applications , 2003 .

[2]  Charles R. Faust,et al.  Simulation of three‐dimensional flow of immiscible fluids within and below the unsaturated zone , 1989 .

[3]  Mark Pritzker,et al.  Pore network modeling of fibrous gas diffusion layers for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells , 2007 .

[4]  W. W. Owens,et al.  The Effect of Rock Wettability on Oil-Water Relative Permeability Relationships , 1971 .

[5]  G. R. Jerauld,et al.  The effect of pore-structure on hysteresis in relative permeability and capillary pressure: Pore-level modeling , 1990 .

[6]  N. Djilali,et al.  Two-scale modeling in porous media: Relative permeability predictions , 2006 .

[7]  M. Oostrom,et al.  Comparison of relative permeability-saturation-pressure parametric models for infiltration and redistribution of a light nonaqueous-phase liquid in sandy porous media , 1998 .

[8]  Liang Hao,et al.  Lattice Boltzmann simulations of anisotropic permeabilities in carbon paper gas diffusion layers , 2009 .

[9]  Bryant,et al.  Prediction of relative permeability in simple porous media. , 1992, Physical review. A, Atomic, molecular, and optical physics.

[10]  Liang Hao,et al.  Lattice Boltzmann simulations of liquid droplet dynamic behavior on a hydrophobic surface of a gas flow channel , 2009 .

[11]  Chao-Yang Wang,et al.  Multiphase flow and heat transfer in porous media , 1997 .

[12]  Van Genuchten,et al.  A closed-form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils , 1980 .

[13]  Cass T. Miller,et al.  Pore-scale investigation of viscous coupling effects for two-phase flow in porous media. , 2005, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics.