Browsing by Author "Bringedal, Carina"

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Open Access
Comparison study of phase-field and level-set method for three-phase systems including two minerals
(2022) Kelm, Mathis; Gärttner, Stephan; Bringedal, Carina; Flemisch, Bernd; Knabner, Peter; Ray, Nadja
We investigate reactive flow and transport in evolving porous media. Solute species that are transported within the fluid phase are taking part in mineral precipitation and dissolution reactions for two competing mineral phases. The evolution of the three phases is not known a-priori but depends on the concentration of the dissolved solute species. To model the coupled behavior, phase-field and level-set models are formulated. These formulations are compared in three increasingly challenging setups including significant mineral overgrowth. Simulation outcomes are examined with respect to mineral volumes and surface areas as well as derived effective quantities such as diffusion and permeability tensors. In doing so, we extend the results of current benchmarks for mineral dissolution/precipitation at the pore-scale to the multiphasic solid case. Both approaches are found to be able to simulate the evolution of the three-phase system, but the phase-field model is influenced by curvature-driven motion.
Open Access
Droplet formation, growth and detachment at the interface of a coupled free-flow-porous medium system : a new model development and comparison
(2023) Veyskarami, Maziar; Michalkowski, Cynthia; Bringedal, Carina; Helmig, Rainer
Coupled free-flow-porous medium systems are of great importance in various natural and industrial applications. Modeling of such systems is always challenging, especially when droplets form at the interface between the two domains. We propose a new concept to take droplet formation, growth and detachment at the interface into account. In this concept, we use pore-network modeling to describe the porous medium and the Navier-Stokes equations for the free-flow domain. New coupling conditions are developed which include droplet interactions with the free flow and the porous medium. Impacts of using different descriptions of the forces acting on the triple contact line and contact angle hysteresis on the predicted onset of the droplet detachment are examined. In addition, we compare the new approach with another model built using ANSYS Fluent based on the volume of fluid method. The results show that the new model is able to describe the droplet formation, growth and then detachment by the free flow. The proposed model provides a base for further developments to handle formation of multiple droplets at the interface between a free flow and a porous medium as well as to include the evaporation in future works.
Open Access
Evaporation-driven density instabilities in saturated porous media
(2022) Bringedal, Carina; Schollenberger, Theresa; Pieters, G. J. M.; Duijn, C. J. van; Helmig, Rainer
Soil salinization is a major cause of soil degradation and hampers plant growth. For soils saturated with saline water, the evaporation of water induces accumulation of salt near the top of the soil. The remaining liquid gets an increasingly larger density due to the accumulation of salt, giving a gravitationally unstable situation, where instabilities in the form of fingers can form. These fingers can, hence, lead to a net downward transport of salt. We here investigate the appearance of these fingers through a linear stability analysis and through numerical simulations. The linear stability analysis gives criteria for onset of instabilities for a large range of parameters. Simulations using a set of parameters give information also about the development of the fingers after onset. With this knowledge, we can predict whether and when the instabilities occur, and their effect on the salt concentration development near the top boundary.
Open Access
Investigation of different throat concepts for precipitation processes in saturated pore-network models
(2024) Schollenberger, Theresa; Wolff, Lars von; Bringedal, Carina; Pop, Iuliu Sorin; Rohde, Christian; Helmig, Rainer
The development of reliable mathematical models and numerical discretization methods is important for the understanding of salt precipitation in porous media, which is relevant for environmental problems like soil salinization. Models on the pore scale are necessary to represent local heterogeneities in precipitation and to include the influence of solution-air-solid interfaces. A pore-network model for saturated flow, which includes the precipitation reaction of salt, is presented. It is implemented in the open-source simulator DuMu X. In this paper, we restrict ourselves to one-phase flow as a first step. Since the throat transmissibilities determine the flow behaviour in the pore network, different concepts for the decreasing throat transmissibility due to precipitation are investigated. We consider four concepts for the amount of precipitation in the throats. Three concepts use information from the adjacent pore bodies, and one employs a pore-throat model obtained by averaging the resolved pore-scale model in a thin-tube. They lead to different permeability developments, which are caused by the different distribution of the precipitate between the pore bodies and throats. We additionally apply two different concepts for the calculation of the transmissibility. One obtains the precipitate distribution from analytical assumptions, the other from a geometric minimization principle using a phase-field evolution equation. The two concepts do not show substantial differences for the permeability development as long as simple pore-throat geometries are used. Finally, advantages and disadvantages of the concepts are discussed in the context of the considered physical problem and a reasonable effort for the implementation and computational costs.
Open Access
Modeling and analysis of droplet evaporation at the interface of a coupled free-flow-porous medium system
(2024) Veyskarami, Maziar; Bringedal, Carina; Helmig, Rainer
Evaporation of droplets formed at the interface of a coupled free-flow–porous medium system enormously affects the exchange of mass, momentum, and energy between the two domains. In this work, we develop a model to describe multiple droplets’ evaporation at the interface, in which new sets of coupling conditions including the evaporating droplets are developed to describe the interactions between the free flow and the porous medium. Employing pore-network modeling to describe the porous medium, we take the exchanges occurring on the droplet-pore and droplet-free-flow interfaces into account. In this model, we describe the droplet evaporation as a diffusion-driven process, where vapor from the droplet surface diffuses into the surrounding free flow due to the concentration gradient. To validate the model, we compare the simulation results for the evaporation of a single droplet in a channel with experimental data, demonstrating that our model accurately describes the evaporation process. Then, we examine the impact of free-flow and porous medium properties on droplet evaporation. The results show that, among other factors, velocity and relative humidity in the free-flow domain, as well as pore temperature in the porous medium, play key roles in the droplet evaporation process.
Open Access
Multiscale modeling and simulation of transport processes in porous media
(2022) Bringedal, Carina; Helmig, Rainer (Prof. Dr.-Ing.)
Open Access
Permeability estimation of regular porous structures : a benchmark for comparison of methods
(2021) Wagner, Arndt; Eggenweiler, Elissa; Weinhardt, Felix; Trivedi, Zubin; Krach, David; Lohrmann, Christoph; Jain, Kartik; Karadimitriou, Nikolaos; Bringedal, Carina; Voland, Paul; Holm, Christian; Class, Holger; Steeb, Holger; Rybak, Iryna
The intrinsic permeability is a crucial parameter to characterise and quantify fluid flow through porous media. However, this parameter is typically uncertain, even if the geometry of the pore structure is available. In this paper, we perform a comparative study of experimental, semi-analytical and numerical methods to calculate the permeability of a regular porous structure. In particular, we use the Kozeny-Carman relation, different homogenisation approaches (3D, 2D, very thin porous media and pseudo 2D/3D), pore-scale simulations (lattice Boltzmann method, Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics and finite-element method) and pore-scale experiments (microfluidics). A conceptual design of a periodic porous structure with regularly positioned solid cylinders is set up as a benchmark problem and treated with all considered methods. The results are discussed with regard to the individual strengths and limitations of the used methods. The applicable homogenisation approaches as well as all considered pore-scale models prove their ability to predict the permeability of the benchmark problem. The underestimation obtained by the microfluidic experiments is analysed in detail using the lattice Boltzmann method, which makes it possible to quantify the influence of experimental setup restrictions.
Open Access
A three-dimensional homogenization approach for effective heat transport in thin porous media
(2022) Scholz, Lena; Bringedal, Carina
Heat transport through a porous medium depends on the local pore geometry and on the heat conductivities of the solid and the saturating fluid. Through upscaling using formal homogenization, the local pore geometry can be accounted for to derive effective heat conductivities to be used at the Darcy scale. We here consider thin porous media, where not only the local pore geometry plays a role for determining the effective heat conductivity, but also the boundary conditions applied at the top and the bottom of the porous medium. Assuming scale separation and using two-scale asymptotic expansions, we derive cell problems determining the effective heat conductivity, which incorporates also the effect of the boundary conditions. Through solving the cell problems, we show how the local grain shape, and in particular its surface area at the top and bottom boundary, affects the effective heat conductivity through the thin porous medium.
Open Access
Two-phase flow dynamics at the interface between GDL and gas distributor channel using a pore-network model
(2022) Michalkowski, Cynthia; Veyskarami, Maziar; Bringedal, Carina; Helmig, Rainer; Schleper, Veronika
For improved operating conditions of a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell, a sophisticated water management is crucial. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the transport mechanisms of water throughout the cell constituents especially on the cathode side, where the excess water has to be removed. Pore-scale modeling of diffusion layers and gas distributor has been established as a favorable technique to investigate the ongoing processes. Investigating the interface between the cathode layers, a particular challenge is the combination and interaction of the multi-phase flow in the porous material of the gas diffusion layer (GDL) with the free flow in the gas distributor channels. The formation, growth and detachment of water droplets on the hydrophobic, porous surface of the GDL have a major influence on the mass, momentum and energy exchange between the layers. A dynamic pore-network model is used to describe the flow through the porous GDL on the pore-scale. To capture the droplet occurrence and its influence on the flow, this dynamic two-phase pore-network model is extended to capture droplet formation and growth at the surface of the GDL as well as droplet detachment due to the gas flow in the gas distributor channels. In this article, the developed model is applied to single- and multi-tube systems to investigate the general drop behavior. These rather simple test-cases are compared to experimental and numerical data available in the literature. Finally, the model is applied to a GDL unit cell to analyze the interaction between two-phase flow through the GDL and drop formation at the interface between GDL and gas distributor channel.
Open Access
Upscaling and effective behavior for two-phase porous-medium flow using a diffuse interface model
(2024) Kelm, Mathis; Bringedal, Carina; Flemisch, Bernd
We investigate two-phase flow in porous media and derive a two-scale model, which incorporates pore-scale phase distribution and surface tension into the effective behavior at the larger Darcy scale. The free-boundary problem at the pore scale is modeled using a diffuse interface approach in the form of a coupled Allen-Cahn Navier-Stokes system with an additional momentum flux due to surface tension forces. Using periodic homogenization and formal asymptotic expansions, a two-scale model with cell problems for phase evolution and velocity contributions is derived. We investigate the computed effective parameters and their relation to the saturation for different fluid distributions, in comparison to commonly used relative permeability saturation curves. The two-scale model yields non-monotone relations for relative permeability and saturation. The strong dependence on local fluid distribution and effects captured by the cell problems highlights the importance of incorporating pore-scale information into the macro-scale equations.