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Quasi‐steady vertical two‐phase flows in porous media
Author(s) -
Weir Graham J.,
Young Roger M.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/91wr00306
Subject(s) - mechanics , constant (computer programming) , viscosity , flow (mathematics) , phase (matter) , porous medium , steady state (chemistry) , flux (metallurgy) , pressure gradient , physics , materials science , porosity , geology , thermodynamics , geotechnical engineering , computer science , chemistry , quantum mechanics , metallurgy , programming language
Two‐phase flows in which the pressure profile is essentially constant are called quasi‐steady. One‐dimensional quasi‐steady flows have the remarkable property that volumetric flux is essentially independent of position and is a function of time alone. Such volumetric fluxes are (to within an additive constant) inversely proportional to the spatial mean value of flowing viscosity. Consequently, the evolution of such a system is controlled by global properties of viscosity. Vertical two‐phase quasi‐steady flows evolving from an initial steady flow to another final steady flow are analyzed, and the corresponding theory is matched to output from a numerical simulator. Good agreement between the theory and simulator is demonstrated for simple shocks and expansion waves.