On the inclusion of the interfacial area between phases in the physical and mathematical description of subsurface multiphase flow. 1997 annual progress report

'This research is part of a joint project with Dr. Andrew F. B. Tompson of Lawrence Livermore National Lab. and Dr. Wendy E. Soll of Los Alamos National Lab. The work is designed to integrate a continuum theory approach to multiphase flow modeling (Gray) with lattice Doltzmann studies (Soll) and study of the model in the context of a field simulation (Tompson). Because of some difficulties with the funding procedure, the support for Drs. Tompson and Soll was delayed such that it begins with the second year during which the author will be supported. Because of this fact, the efforts to integrate the theory with the modeling efforts has been delayed but will be able to be approached with particular vigor during this coming year. The author has met with Drs. Soll and Tompson and plan to meet with them again next month to ensure that the efforts are coordinated. During this first year, funding has been used to advance the theory and develop a basic understanding that will assist in development of the simulation models. It should be noted that in addition to this grant. The author is supported by a subcontract of part of a DOE grant to Cornell (PI Carlo Monte-magno) under this same funding program. Both grants require development of theory and are thus related. However, the interactions and ultimate goals of the two studies are different. Simplistically, one might differentiate between the two projects in that the DOE-Cornell grant is concerned with the equilibrium states of the system and the parameters needed to describe those states while the present grant is concerned with dynamic processes and the parameters needed for their description. It is not possible to definitively compartmentalize the findings made in my studies of multiphase flow as belonging exclusively to one grant or the other.