Investigation of Scale and Heterogeneity Effects on Flow and Transport inMultiphase Systems

摘要

Contamination of the subsurface environment by fluids that are immiscible withwater is recognized as a commonplace occurrence. Subsurface systems that include immiscible fluids are multiphase systems; the phases present may include a solid, an aqueous, an immiscible organic, and a vapor. Fundamental processes that govern the behavior of such systems are complex. Several crucial questions remain to be answered for multiphase subsurface systems before a mature level of understanding is achieved. Among the most important of these unresolved issues are the effects of measurement scale, system dimensionality, and media heterogeneity on fundamental fluid flow and interphase mass transfer processes. Most multiphase research to date has relied upon small scale measurement of constitutive relations, assumptions of local equilibrium for solute distribution among phases, and the assumption of a homogeneous porous media. The purpose of this project was to investigate multiphase flow and interphase mass transfer processes as a function of scale in both homogeneous and heterogeneous porous media systems.