Abstract
The accuracy of the renormalization method for upscaling two-dimensional hydraulic conductivity fields is investigated, using two canonical 2 × 2 blocks: a checkerboard geometry and a geometry in which three of the cells have conductivity K 1 and the other has conductivity K 2. The predictions of the renormalization algorithm are compared to the arithmetic, harmonic and geometric means, as well as to theoretical predictions and finite element calculations. For the latter geometry renormalization works well over the entire range of the conductivity ratio K 2/K 1, but for the checkerboard geometry the error becomes unbounded as the conductivity ratio grows.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adler, P. M. and Berkowitz, B.: 2000, Effective medium analysis of random lattices, Transport in Porous Media 40, 145-151.
Aziz, K. and Settari, A.: 1979, Petroleum Reservoir Simulation, Applied Science Publishers, London.
Bao, K.-D.: 1990, Electrical conduction in checkerboard geometries, Phys. Rev. B 41, 4330-4033.
Dykhne, A. M.: 1971, Conductivity of a two-dimensional two-phase system, Sov. Phys. JETP 32, 63-65.
Istok, J.: 1989, Ground Water Modeling by the Finite Element Method, Amer. Geophys. Union, Washington.
King, P. R.: 1988, Effective values in averaging, in: S. Edwards and P. King (eds), Mathematics in Oil Production, Oxford University Press, pp. 217-234.
King, P. R.: 1996, Upscaling permeability: error analysis for renormalization, Transport in Porous Media 23, 337-354.
Kirkpatrick, S.: 1973, Percolation and conduction, Rev. Mod. Phys. 45, 574-588.
Lu, H. and Bao, K.-D.: 1992, Effective conductivity in a checkerboard geometry at high conductance ratio and high concentration, Phys. Rev. B 46, 9209-9212.
McCarthy, J. F.: 1991, Analytical models of the effective permeabilities of sand-shale reservoirs, Geophys. J. Int. 105, 513-527.
Obnosov, Y. V.: 1999, Periodic heterogeneous structures: new explicit solutions and effective characteristics of refraction of an imposed field, SIAM J. Appl. Math. 59, 1267-1287.
Obnosov, Y. V.: 1997, Exact solution of a boundary-value problem for a rectangular checkerboard field, Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. A 452, 2423-2442.
Renard, P. and deMarsily, G.: 1997, Calculating equivalent permeability: a review, Adv.Water Resour. 20, 253-278.
Sahimi, M., Hughes, B. D., Scriven, L. E. and Davis, H. T.: 1983, Real space renormalization and effective medium approximation to the percolation conduction problem, Phys. Rev. B 28, 307-311.
Schulgasser, K.: 1992, A reciprocal theorem in two-dimensional heat transfer and its implications, Int. Commun. Heat Mass Transfer 19, 639-649.
Warren, J. E. and Price, H. H.: 1961, Flow in heterogeneous porous media, Soc. Pet. Engng J. 1, 153-169.
Wen, X.-H. and Gómez-Hernández, J. J.: 1996, Upscaling hydraulic conductivities in heterogeneous media: an overview, J. Hydrol. 183, ix-xxxii.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yeo, IW., Zimmerman, R.W. Accuracy of the Renormalization Method for Computing Effective Conductivities of Heterogeneous Media. Transport in Porous Media 45, 129–138 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011849804979
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011849804979