Numerical modeling of Non-isothermal two-phase two-component flow process with phase change phenomena in the porous media

Abstract:

In applications of Deep Geothermal reservoirs, thermal recovery processes, and contaminated groundwater sites, the multiphase multicomponent flow and transport processes are often considered the most important underlying physical process. In particular, the behavior of phase appearance and disappearance is the critical to the performance of many geo-reservoirs, and great interests exit in the scientific community to simulate this coupled process. This work is devoted to the modeling and simulation of two-phase, two components flow and transport in the porous medium, whereas the phase change behavior in non-isothermal conditions is considered.

In this work, we have implemented the algorithm developed by Marchand, et al., into the open source scientific software OpenGeoSys. The governing equation is formulated in terms of molar fraction of the light component and mean pressure as the persistent primary variables, which leads to a fully coupled nonlinear PDE system. One of the important advantages of this approach is avoiding the primary variables switching between single phase and two phase zones, so that this uniform system can be applied to describe the behavior of phase change. On the other hand, due to the number of unkown variables closure relationships are also formulated to close the whole equation system by using the approach of complementarity constrains. For the numerical technical scheme: The standard Galerkin Finite element method is applied for space discretization, while a fully implicit scheme for the time discretization, and Newton–Raphson method is utilized for the global linearization, as well as the closure relationship.

This model is verified based on one test case developed to simulate the heat pipe problem. This benchmark involves two-phase two-component flow in saturated/unsaturated porous media under non-isothermal condition, including phase change and mineral-water geochemical reactive transport processes. The simulation results will be presented to demonstrate its adequacy and efficiency, especially facing phase change behaviors. The validated model is further applied to simulate diffusive transport and biodegradation process of VOCs (Volatile Organic Contaminants) in unsaturated porous medium based on the experimental measurements