Eur. Phys. J. E (2010) 32: 339-348
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2010-10629-8

Regular Article

Simulation of flow of mixtures through anisotropic porous media using a lattice Boltzmann model

ETH Zurich, Institute for Building Materials, Computational Physics for Engineering Materials, Schafmattstrasse 6, HIF, CH-8093, Zurich, Switzerland

^* e-mail: mmendoza@ethz.ch

Received: 17 November 2009
Accepted: 1 July 2010
Published online: 4 August 2010

Abstract

We propose a description for transient penetration simulations of miscible and immiscible fluid mixtures into anisotropic porous media, using the lattice Boltzmann (LB) method. Our model incorporates hydrodynamic flow, advection-diffusion, surface tension, and the possibility for global and local viscosity variations to consider various types of hardening fluids. The miscible mixture consists of two fluids, one governed by the hydrodynamic equations and one by advection-diffusion equations. We validate our model on standard problems like Poiseuille flow, the collision of a drop with an impermeable, solid interface and the deformation of the fluid due to surface tension forces. To demonstrate the applicability to complex geometries, we simulate the invasion process of mixtures into wood spruce samples.