Flow in Porous Media

Postgraduate course

Course description

Objectives and Content

The understanding of flow and transport processes in porous media is pertinent to many important applications in science and engineering. This includes for example subsurface water flow in soil, CO2 sequestration, geothermal energy extraction, enhanced oil recovery and medical applications. In this course basic theory and mathematics of porous media flow and transport processes is developed. Mass and momentum conservation equations for single and multiphase, multicomponent flow in porous media are introduced in a general framework. The students will learn to set up mathematical models relevant to applications and solve these in simplified settings. Extensions to topics of relevance for current research (e.g. flow in deformable and/or fractured media) will be covered.

Learning Outcomes

After completed course, the students are expected to be able to

  • describe notions like porosity, permeability or saturation
  • describe miscible and immiscible flow in porous media
  • describe what means harmonic average of permeability
  • describe the principle of capillarity pressure and relative permeability
  • give a complete model for a two-phase flow
  • analyze the Riemann's problem and the Buckley Leverett solution.

Semester of Instruction

Autumn
Required Previous Knowledge
None
Recommended Previous Knowledge
PHYS111 Mechanics I and MAT212 Functions of Several Variables
Compulsory Assignments and Attendance
Exercises
Forms of Assessment
Oral examination
Grading Scale
The grading scale used is A to F. Grade A is the highest passing grade in the grading scale, grade F is a fail.