Martin Hilpert

Multiphase flow and transport modeling in heterogeneous porous media

We focus on the inter-related roles of scale and heterogeneity of porous medium properties for fluid flow and contaminant transport in isothermal and non-isothermal multiphase systems across a range of scales. Multiscale network and macro-scale continuum models, and detailed laboratory experiments are used to support the investigation. We demonstrate the critical role of scale in determining the dominant forces in a porous medium system, the importance of heterogeneity across a range of scales, and the dominant role of block heterogeneities on macro-scale fluid flow and non-isothermal contaminant remediation. We give special attention to the numerical approximations of pressure-saturation-conductivity relations in heterogeneous systems, and we show the effects of interface approximation schemes on both the ability to resolve phenomena of concern and on the efficiency of the numerical simulator.