No Arabic abstract
A multi-scale scheme for the invasion percolation of rock fracture networks with heterogeneous fracture aperture fields is proposed. Inside fractures, fluid transport is calculated on the finest scale and found to be localized in channels as a consequence of the aperture field. The channel network is characterized and reduced to a vectorized artificial channel network (ACN). Different realizations of ACNs are used to systematically calculate efficient apertures for fluid transport inside differently sized fractures as well as fracture intersection and entry properties. Typical situations in fracture networks are parameterized by fracture inclination, flow path length along the fracture and intersection lengths in the entrance and outlet zones of fractures. Using these scaling relations obtained from the finer scales, we simulate the invasion process of immiscible fluids into saturated discrete fracture networks, which were studied in previous works.
The main purpose of this work is to simulate two-phase flow in the form of immiscible displacement through anisotropic, three-dimensional (3D) discrete fracture networks (DFN). The considered DFNs are artificially generated, based on a general distribution function or are conditioned on measured data from deep geological investigations. We introduce several modifications to the invasion percolation (MIP) to incorporate fracture inclinations, intersection lines, as well as the hydraulic path length inside the fractures. Additionally a trapping algorithm is implemented that forbids any advance of the invading fluid into a region, where the defending fluid is completely encircled by the invader and has no escape route. We study invasion, saturation, and flow through artificial fracture networks, with varying anisotropy and size and finally compare our findings to well studied, conditioned fracture networks.
In this work, we present a characterization of phase configuration in water-saturated sintered glass bead samples after oil injection, through the analysis of time-dependent diffusion coefficients obtained from sets of one-dimensional pulsed field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance (PFG NMR) measurements, pre and post drainage. Estimates of samples surface-to-volume ratio and permeability from pre drainage PFG measurements in a water-saturated sample were compared with analytical and reported values, respectively, and a fair agreement was found in both cases. Short-time analysis of diffusion coefficients extracted from PFG measurements was used to quantify the increase in surface-to-volume ratio probed by the wetting phase after drainage. Analysis of water and oil diffusion coefficients from post drainage PFG experiments were carried out using a bi-Gaussian model, and two distinct scenarios were considered to describe fluids conformation within pores. For the case where non-wetting phase was considered to exhibit a poorly connected geometry, an analysis assuming the formation of oi-in-water droplets within pores was performed, and a Gaussian distribution of droplets radii was determined.
Unicellular microscopic organisms living in aqueous environments outnumber all other creatures on Earth. A large proportion of them are able to self-propel in fluids with a vast diversity of swimming gaits and motility patterns. In this paper we present a biophysical survey of the available experimental data produced to date on the characteristics of motile behaviour in unicellular microswimmers. We assemble from the available literature empirical data on the motility of four broad categories of organisms: bacteria (and archaea), flagellated eukaryotes, spermatozoa and ciliates. Whenever possible, we gather the following biological, morphological, kinematic and dynamical parameters: species, geometry and size of the organisms, swimming speeds, actuation frequencies, actuation amplitudes, number of flagella and properties of the surrounding fluid. We then organise the data using the established fluid mechanics principles for propulsion at low Reynolds number. Specifically, we use theoretical biophysical models for the locomotion of cells within the same taxonomic groups of organisms as a means of rationalising the raw material we have assembled, while demonstrating the variability for organisms of different species within the same group. The material gathered in our work is an attempt to summarise the available experimental data in the field, providing a convenient and practical reference point for future studies.
Peritrichous bacteria such as Escherichia coli swim in viscous fluids by forming a helical bundle of flagellar filaments. The filaments are spatially distributed around the cell body to which they are connected via a flexible hook. To understand how the swimming direction of the cell is determined, we theoretically investigate the elastohydrodynamic motility problem of a multi-flagellated bacterium. Specifically, we consider a spherical cell body with a number N of flagella which are initially symmetrically arranged in a plane in order to provide an equilibrium state. We analytically solve the linear stability problem and find that at most 6 modes can be unstable and that these correspond to the degrees of freedom for the rigid-body motion of the cell body. Although there exists a rotation-dominated mode that generates negligible locomotion, we show that for the typical morphological parameters of bacteria the most unstable mode results in linear swimming in one direction accompanied by rotation around the same axis, as observed experimentally.
We develop and implement a novel lattice Boltzmann scheme to study multicomponent flows on curved surfaces, coupling the continuity and Navier-Stokes equations with the Cahn-Hilliard equation to track the evolution of the binary fluid interfaces. Standard lattice Boltzmann method relies on regular Cartesian grids, which makes it generally unsuitable to study flow problems on curved surfaces. To alleviate this limitation, we use a vielbein formalism to write down the Boltzmann equation on an arbitrary geometry, and solve the evolution of the fluid distribution functions using a finite difference method. Focussing on the torus geometry as an example of a curved surface, we demonstrate drift motions of fluid droplets and stripes embedded on the surface of a torus. Interestingly, they migrate in opposite directions: fluid droplets to the outer side while fluid stripes to the inner side of the torus. For the latter we demonstrate that the global minimum configuration is unique for small stripe widths, but it becomes bistable for large stripe widths. Our simulations are also in agreement with analytical predictions for the Laplace pressure of the fluid stripes, and their damped oscillatory motion as they approach equilibrium configurations, capturing the corresponding decay timescale and oscillation frequency. Finally, we simulate the coarsening dynamics of phase separating binary fluids in the hydrodynamics and diffusive regimes for tori of various shapes, and compare the results against those for a flat two-dimensional surface. Our lattice Boltzmann scheme can be extended to other surfaces and coupled to other dynamical equations, opening up a vast range of applications involving complex flows on curved geometries.