Pore-Scale Reactive Transport Modeling and Upscaling To the Continuum Scale

Conveners: Peter C. Lichtner, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Qinjun Kang, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Multiphase flow and reaction in porous media are among the most complex and challenging problems in water resources research. Although pore-scale interfacial phenomena govern the key processes of fluid mobility, chemical transport, adsorption, and reaction, spatial heterogeneity at the pore scale cannot currently be resolved at the continuum scale, where averaging typically occurs over length scales larger than typical pore sizes. An open question is how important spatial heterogeneity at the pore scale is for the observed behavior at the larger scale. Specifically, resolving pore-scale heterogeneity may explain some of the discrepancy between lab-measured and field-derived rate constants, as well as other issues leading to failure of macroscale models. Therefore, to quantitatively investigate how pore-scale heterogeneity affects the emergent behavior at the field scale, we must understand multiphase flow, transport, and reaction processes at the pore scale. When combined with upscaling techniques, pore-scale simulations may enable the key parameters and physiochemical processes that control macroscopic phenomena to be identified, and the most appropriate continuum model to be determined, or even to demonstrate whether upscaling is impossible. In cases where upscaling is shown to be valid, pore-scale simulations can provide appropriate values for macro-scale properties of the porous medium, including primary and secondary flow domains and interfacial area, permeability, tortuosity, and dispersivity.

This session will be devoted to recent advances in this area and will include: (1) more accurate representations of porous media, such as direct imaging, statistical reconstruction, and process-based modeling; (2) different methods to simulate multiphase flow and reactive transport in porous media at the pore scale, including lattice-Boltzmann, pore-network, and smooth-particle hydrodynamic methods; and (3) different approaches to upscaling pore-scale results to the continuum scale. Applications of these methods to subsurface contaminant migration, bioremediation, geological CO₂ sequestration, etc., are particularly sought.


Contact Us General Conference Information Key Note Speakers Special Sessions Presenter Instructions Student Fellow Awards Program Social Event Registration Accomodations Travel & Visa Information Sign up for Email Updates Abstract List CMWR Home	Back to Existing Special Sessions >> Pore-Scale Reactive Transport Modeling and Upscaling To the Continuum Scale Conveners: Peter C. Lichtner, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Qinjun Kang, Los Alamos National Laboratory Multiphase flow and reaction in porous media are among the most complex and challenging problems in water resources research. Although pore-scale interfacial phenomena govern the key processes of fluid mobility, chemical transport, adsorption, and reaction, spatial heterogeneity at the pore scale cannot currently be resolved at the continuum scale, where averaging typically occurs over length scales larger than typical pore sizes. An open question is how important spatial heterogeneity at the pore scale is for the observed behavior at the larger scale. Specifically, resolving pore-scale heterogeneity may explain some of the discrepancy between lab-measured and field-derived rate constants, as well as other issues leading to failure of macroscale models. Therefore, to quantitatively investigate how pore-scale heterogeneity affects the emergent behavior at the field scale, we must understand multiphase flow, transport, and reaction processes at the pore scale. When combined with upscaling techniques, pore-scale simulations may enable the key parameters and physiochemical processes that control macroscopic phenomena to be identified, and the most appropriate continuum model to be determined, or even to demonstrate whether upscaling is impossible. In cases where upscaling is shown to be valid, pore-scale simulations can provide appropriate values for macro-scale properties of the porous medium, including primary and secondary flow domains and interfacial area, permeability, tortuosity, and dispersivity. This session will be devoted to recent advances in this area and will include: (1) more accurate representations of porous media, such as direct imaging, statistical reconstruction, and process-based modeling; (2) different methods to simulate multiphase flow and reactive transport in porous media at the pore scale, including lattice-Boltzmann, pore-network, and smooth-particle hydrodynamic methods; and (3) different approaches to upscaling pore-scale results to the continuum scale. Applications of these methods to subsurface contaminant migration, bioremediation, geological CO₂ sequestration, etc., are particularly sought.
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