IstoPore Seminar – by Radoslav Hurtis

Numerical and asymptotic modelling of the reactive Elder problem: Effects of the chemical reaction on the flow and mass transport

Radoslav Hurtis, a Postdoctoral researcher at ISTO, will present his research work at the next IstoPore seminar.

Abstract

Density-driven flow and reactive infiltration in fluid-saturated porous media are prevalent in many hydro-geological processes. Typical examples include the acid treatment of oil wells in the petroleum drilling industry and CO2 sequestration in deep saline aquifers. To better understand and explain these phenomena, we formulate a two-dimensional porous-medium model that includes local chemical interactions between a solute in the pore liquid and a solid mineral structure of the porous medium as an extension of the classical Elder problem. Using numerical simulations, we analyse different cases depending on how the liquid density varies with concentrations of the solute and products generated by the chemical reaction. For the weakly reactive and weakly density-driven case, we derive asymptotic solutions describing the liquid flow and distribution of the solute, minerals and products in the system. The asymptotic solutions are used not only for a straightforward analysis of the physical phenomena but also for testing a numerical approach applied to the full problem.