Cellular‐automaton fluids: A model for flow in porous media

Numerical models of fluid flow through porous media can be developed from either microscopic or macroscopic properties. The large‐scale viewpoint is perhaps the most prevalent. Darcy’s law relates the chief macroscopic parameters of interest—flow rate, permeability, viscosity, and pressure gradient—and may be invoked to solve for any of these parameters when the others are known. In practical situations, however, this solution may not be possible. Attention is then typically focused on the estimation of permeability, and numerous numerical methods based on knowledge of the microscopic pore‐space geometry have been proposed. Because the intrinsic inhomogeneity of porous media makes the application of proper boundary conditions difficult, microscopic flow calculations have typically been achieved with idealized arrays of geometrically simple pores, throats, and cracks. I propose here an attractive alternative which can freely and accurately model fluid flow in grossly irregular geometries. This new method s...