Precipitation-induced Geometry Evolution in Porous Media: Numerical and Experimental Insights based on New Model on Probabilistic Nucleation and Mineral Growth

Mineral Precipitation and Geometry Alteration in Porous Structures: How to Upscale Variations in Permeability–Porosity Relationship?

“…There is no advection in the system, and an infinite source of the oversaturated solution was imposed on top of the domain via a source term in the discretized lattice Boltzmann (LB) equation. More details of the LBM model, mineral growth (reaction) model, and subgrid assumptions and implementations can be found in our previous studies. ,,,, …”

“…However, it is important to emphasize that in more realistic simulations, a robust probabilistic nucleation model ,− ,, should determine the number of crystallites and their spatial distribution. In such instances, low interfacial free energies between the secondary crystals and the crystallites (of the same mineral) should give rise to clustering and aggregate formation around pre-existing crystallites, especially at low supersaturations. , Subsequently, in each MC-simulation crystallites undergo growth based on a specified growth model, such as Burton, Cabrera, and Frank (BCF) , also depending on the secondary mineral of interest, the aqueous supersaturation and temperature. Deriving the distribution of clogging model parameters : Porosity–permeability pairs are calculated at various stages during the evolution of the system. Subsequently, by fitting the preferred clogging model curve (in this paper, we utilized the power law) to each simulation, a distribution of the clogging model parameter can be derived.…”

“…However, it is important to emphasize that in more realistic simulations, a robust probabilistic nucleation model ,− ,, should determine the number of crystallites and their spatial distribution. In such instances, low interfacial free energies between the secondary crystals and the crystallites (of the same mineral) should give rise to clustering and aggregate formation around pre-existing crystallites, especially at low supersaturations. , Subsequently, in each MC-simulation crystallites undergo growth based on a specified growth model, such as Burton, Cabrera, and Frank (BCF) , also depending on the secondary mineral of interest, the aqueous supersaturation and temperature.…”

“…As we mentioned in our previous publications, ,, in some specific systems, the probability of nucleation occurring in a particular area and at a specific time is exceptionally high, enabling the employment of deterministic approaches to handle the nucleation process, which significantly simplifies the analysis and modeling.…”

“…More details of the LBM model, mineral growth (reaction) model, and subgrid assumptions and implementations can be found in our previous studies. 8,39,42,43,57 This work did not use the entire nucleation model criteria. Instead, a predefined number of crystallites (as a proxy for stable nucleation sites) were populated randomly for initializing the system, as the main focus is tracking and quantifying the consequences of mineral precipitation on the hydrodynamics of porous media.…”