Flow through time-evolving porous media: swelling and erosion

TL;DR

This paper extends Lattice-Boltzmann models to study flow in porous media undergoing swelling and erosion, revealing how boundary conditions influence steady states and regime transitions.

Contribution

It introduces a model incorporating both swelling and erosion effects in porous media flow, analyzing their competition under different boundary conditions.

Findings

Steady state depends on erosion dynamics for constant flow rate.

Steady state depends on swelling timescale for constant pressure drop.

Identifies a transition between swelling-dominated and erosion-dominated regimes.

Abstract

The flow through a porous medium strongly depends on the boundary conditions, very often assumed to be static. Here, we consider changes in the medium due to swelling and erosion and extend existing Lattice-Boltzmann models to include both. We study two boundary conditions: a constant pressure drop and a constant flow rate. For a constant flow rate, the steady state depends solely on the erosion dynamics while for a constant pressure drop it depends also on the timescale of swelling. We analyze the competition between swelling and erosion and identify a transition between regimes where either swelling or erosion dominate.