Comparison study of phase-field and level-set method for three-phase systems including two minerals

Abstract

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.