Cellular‐automaton fluids: A model for flow in porous media

Abstract

Numerical models of fluid flow through porous media can be developed from either microscopic or macroscopic properties. The large‐scale viewpoint is perhaps the most prevalent. Darcy’s law relates the chief macroscopic parameters of interest—flow rate, permeability, viscosity, and pressure gradient—and may be invoked to solve for any of these parameters when the others are known. In practical situations, however, this solution may not be possible. Attention is then typically focused on the estimation of permeability, and numerous numerical methods based on knowledge of the microscopic pore‐space geometry have been proposed. Because the intrinsic inhomogeneity of porous media makes the application of proper boundary conditions difficult, microscopic flow calculations have typically been achieved with idealized arrays of geometrically simple pores, throats, and cracks. I propose here an attractive alternative which can freely and accurately model fluid flow in grossly irregular geometries. This new method solves the Navier‐Stokes equations numerically using the cellular‐automaton fluid model introduced by Frisch, Hasslacher, and Pomeau. The cellular‐ automaton fluid is extraordinarily simple—particles of unit mass traveling with unit velocity reside on a triangular lattice and obey elementary collision rules—but is capable of modeling much of the rich complexity of real fluid flow. Cellular‐automaton fluids are applicable to the study of porous media. In particular, numerical methods can be used to apply the appropriate boundary conditions, create a pressure gradient, and measure the permeability. Scale of the cellular‐automaton lattice is an important issue; the linear dimension of a void region must be approximately twice the mean free path of a lattice gas particle. Finally, an example of flow in a 2-D porous medium demonstrates not only the numerical solution of the Navier‐Stokes equations in a highly irregular geometry, but also numerical estimation of permeability and a verification of Darcy’s law.