Statistical characteristics of flow as indicators of channeling in heterogeneous porous and fractured media

We introduce two new channeling indicators D-ic and D-cc based on the Lagrangian distribution of flow rates. On the basis of the participation ratio, these indicators characterize the extremes of both the flow-tube width distribution and the flow rate variation along flow lines. The participation ratio is an indicator biased toward the larger values of a distribution and is equal to the normalized ratio of the square of the first-order moment to the second-order moment. Compared with other existing indicators, they advantageously provide additional information on the flow channel geometry, are consistently applicable to both porous and fractured media, and are generally less variable for media generated using the same parameters than other indicators. Based on their computation for a broad range of porous and fracture permeability fields, we show that they consistently characterize two different geometric properties of channels. D-ic gives a characteristic scale of low-flow zones in porous media and a characteristic distance between effectively flowing structures in fractured cases. D-cc gives a characteristic scale of the extension of high-flow zones in porous media and a characteristic channel length in fractured media. D-ic is mostly determined by channel density and permeability variability. D-cc is, however, more affected by the nature of the correlation structure like the presence of permeability channels or fractures in porous media and the length distribution in fracture networks. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.