Flow and Transport Properties of Porous Materials

Abstract

As Chaps. 4–6 should have made it clear, one of the most important applications of percolation theory is to solve problems in porous materials and media, from smallest to the largest length scales. We already described in Chaps. 4 and 5 some of such applications to characterization of the morphology of porous media and of connectivity of fracture networks. In the present chapter, we describe application of percolation concepts to modeling of flow and transport in porous media and materials, including fluid flow and diffusion. In a separate chapter, we will take up the problem of mass transfer, solute transport, and mixing in porous media and how percolation has been used fruitfully to model these important phenomena that are relevant to groundwater flow, enhanced oil recovery, transport of contaminants in aquifers, and several other problems.