A hybrid pore-network-continuum modeling framework for flow and transport in 3D digital images of porous media

Abstract

Understanding flow and transport in multiscale porous media is challenging due to the presence of a wide range of pore sizes. Recent imaging advances offer high-resolution characterization of the multiscale pore structures. However, simulating flow and transport in 3D digital images requires models to represent both the resolved and sub-resolution pore structures. We develop a hybrid pore-network-continuum modeling framework. The hybrid framework treats the smaller pores below the image resolution as a continuum using the Darcy-scale formalism and explicitly represents the larger pores resolved in the images employing a pore network model. We validate the hybrid model against direct numerical simulations for single-phase flow and solute transport and further demonstrate its applicability for simulating two-component gas transport in a shale rock sample. The results indicate that the new hybrid model represents the flow and transport process in multiscale porous media while being much more computationally efficient than direct numerical simulation methods for the range of simulated conditions.