Capillary Network Model: Capillary Power and Effective Permeability

TL;DR

This paper introduces a simple capillary network model for two-phase flow in porous media, linking capillary power to statistical mechanics, and validates it through stochastic sampling and time-stepping comparisons.

Contribution

It presents a novel model connecting capillary power with statistical mechanics and demonstrates its validity for flow-rate predictions in porous media.

Findings

Good agreement between stochastic sampling and time stepping methods

Model accurately predicts flow-rates above a transition value

Establishes a new approach linking capillary power to flow modeling

Abstract

A simple model of two-phase flow in porous media is presented. A connection is made to statistical mechanics by applying capillary power as a constraint. Stochastic sampling is then used to test the validity of this approach. Good agreement is found between stochastic sampling and time stepping for flow-rates above a transition value.