Flow through time-evolving porous media: swelling and erosion

Abstract

The flow through a porous medium strongly depends on the boundary conditions, very often assumed to be static. Here, we consider changes in the medium due to swelling and erosion and extend existing Lattice-Boltzmann models to include both. We study two boundary conditions: a constant pressure drop and a constant flow rate. For a constant flow rate, the steady state depends solely on the erosion dynamics while for a constant pressure drop it depends also on the timescale of swelling. We analyze the competition between swelling and erosion and identify a transition between regimes where either swelling or erosion dominate.