Numerical simulations of flows in a heterogeneous porous medium

Numerical simulations are employed to investigate the fluid flow and pressure loss in a heterogeneous block within a composite porous medium. The mean permeability of the heterogeneous block is seen to affect the overall effective flux significantly. The heterogeneous parameters of the permeability field, such as the correlation length and variance, affect it quite differently. Because of the channelling effects, the effective flux depends strongly on the realization of the permeability for larger correlation length. Under a specific permeability field, higher effective flux results from smaller variances. The influences of the inertial factor are found to be insignificant within the range of practical interests.