Session D40 - Poster Session I.
POSTER session, Monday afternoon, March 12
Exhibit Hall, Washington State Convention Center
Driven flow response in an open system is studied using a Monte Carlo simulation. A lattice of size L_x \times L \times L is considered with the bottom (x=1) connected to a source of fluid while the top end (x=L_x) is open for fluid to escape. The host matrix of porosity p_s is prepared by distributing sediment barriers at a fraction p_b = 1-p_s of lattice sites. Fluid constituents are represented by mobile particles with a particle-particle repulsive and particle-pore attractive interaction. Metropolis algorithm is used to move particles. Depending on the case under study, one may consider uniform temperature (T), temperature gradient (\Delta T), and pressure gradient (\Delta P) in a homogeneous matrix (p_s=1) or a highly ramified porous medium with porosity near the percolation threshold (p_s=0.32) Further, the effect of a fault line/plane can also be incorporated. As fluid particles enter from the bottom, the fluid density evolves and equilibrates to a steady-state density gradient which drive the particles even with a uniform temperature. Density profile and flow response, therefore, depend on the temperature and other parameters. Linear and non-linear flow response in some of the parameters regimes will be presented.