Brine transport in porous media: self-similar solutions

In this paper we analyze a model for brine transport in porous media, which includes a mass balance for the fluid, a mass balance for salt, Darcy's law and an equation of state, which relates the fluid density to the salt mass fraction. This model incorporates the effect of local volume changes...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Advances in water resources 1998-11, Vol.22 (3), p.285-297
Main Authors: van Duijn, C.J, Peletier, L.A, Schotting, R.J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
brine
brine transport
compressibility
density
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics
equations
Exact sciences and technology
Hydrogeology
Hydrology. Hydrogeology
mass transfer
mathematical models
Pollution, environment geology
porous media
radionuclides
similarity transformations
simulation models
solutes
transport processes
volume
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Summary:In this paper we analyze a model for brine transport in porous media, which includes a mass balance for the fluid, a mass balance for salt, Darcy's law and an equation of state, which relates the fluid density to the salt mass fraction. This model incorporates the effect of local volume changes due to variations in the salt concentration. Density variations affect the compressibility of the fluid, which in turn cause additional fluid flow. Two specific situations are investigated that lead to self similarity. We study the relative importance of the compressibility effect in terms of the relative density difference. Semi-analytical solutions are obtained as well as asymptotic expressions in terms of the relative density difference. It is found that the volume changes have a small but noticeable effect on the mass transport only when the salt concentration gradients are large. Some results on the simultaneous transport of brine and dissolved (radioactive) tracers are presented.
ISSN:0309-1708
1872-9657
DOI:10.1016/S0309-1708(98)00008-6