Speaker
Description
Porous media performance is governed by three-dimensional microstructure, while engineering decisions aimed at improving performance require robust and reproducible links between structure, transport properties, and mechanical response. Addressing this challenge calls for integrated, physics-based workflows that consistently connect pore-scale structure to macroscopic behavior.
This presentation introduces digital workflows for porous media that guide users from image-based or synthetic microstructure generation to validated property prediction and virtual design exploration. We combine three-dimensional image processing and quantitative analysis with simulation tools for flow, transport, and mechanics, enabling a consistent “build once, test many” approach across a wide range of porous materials, including filters, fibrous and granular media, foams, electrodes, catalysts, and reservoir rocks. Key workflows components include importing micro-computed tomography and FIB-SEM volumes, phase segmentation, quantitative characterization of morphology and pore-space topology, and assessment of representativeness prior to simulation. The same digital sample is then used to compute effective properties such as permeability and diffusivity, thermal and electrical transport coefficients, and elastic response, including saturation-dependent properties such as capillary pressure curves and relative permeability for immiscible two-phase flow. Methodological rigor and comparability are ensured by established digital rock physics benchmarking efforts that formalize best practices for imaging, segmentation, and property computation.
To illustrate how these workflows extend beyond generic property estimation, we present published examples in which coupled processes play a central role. Reactive transport and fluid-rock interaction are addressed through workflows that couple pore-scale transport simulations with geochemical solvers such as PHREEQC, enabling pore-resolved prediction of porosity and permeability evolution during dissolution and precipitation, with tutorial-grade reproducibility for CO2-brine systems. Complementary studies demonstrate kinetic modeling of calcite cement dissolution and efficient reactive flow simulation strategies that scale from sub volumes to representative domains. Finally, we present an example combining digital rock physics with petro-elastic simulations to evaluate elastic properties under dry and variably saturated conditions, illustrating how pore-scale outputs can support pore-to-log-to-seismic interpretation across a broad range of porous media systems.
| References | Andrä, H. et al. Digital rock physics benchmarks Part I Imaging and segmentation. Computers and Geosciences 50 (2013) 25–32. DOI: 10.1016/j.cageo.2012.09.005. Andrä, H. et al. Digital rock physics benchmarks Part II Computing effective properties. Computers and Geosciences 50 (2013) 33–43. DOI: 10.1016/j.cageo.2012.09.008. Halisch, M., Jacob, A., Lykhachova, O., Burmester, G. A Novel Grain Contact Modelling Approach for Enhanced Petro Elastic Simulations in Digital Rock Physics Applications. SCA Symposium paper SCA2025 1015 (2025). DOI: not assigned in the proceedings document. Hinz, C., Enzmann, F., Kersten, M. Pore scale modelling of calcite cement dissolution in a reservoir sandstone matrix. E3S Web of Conferences 98 (2019) 05010. DOI: 10.1051/e3sconf/20199805010. Holzer et al., The influence of constrictivity on the effective transport properties of porous layers in electrolysis and fuel cells, Journal of Materials Science (2013). DOI: 10.1007/s10853-012-6968-z Arnold et al., Forced Imbibition and Uncertainty Modeling using the Morphological Method, Advances in Water Resources (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.advwatres.2023.104381. |
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| Country | Germany |
| Green Housing & Porous Media Focused Abstracts | This abstract is related to Green Housing |
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