Project description
Transport modelling for local mixing in granular media
Modelling the reactive transport of solutes in porous media is applied to several problems such as contaminant transport or geothermal energy. However, the wide range of scales at which fluid flows are governed by physical heterogeneities in porous media prevents the development of practical and accurate reactive transport models. The local mixing process controls the capacity of reactants at a close distance to enable chemical reactions. Nevertheless, continuum-scale reactive transport models typically neglect the role of mixing at the pore scale. The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions MixUp project will develop a first-of-its-kind upscaled transport approach for mixing and reaction that can precisely account for local mixing in granular media and be readily integrated within existing continuum-scale reactive models and codes.
Objective
"Modeling reactive transport of solutes in aquifers and other porous formations is a field with key applications for a wide range of problems in contaminant transport, soil remediation, subsurface CO2 sequestration and geothermal energy. The wide range of scales at which fluid flows are governed by physical heterogeneities in porous media is a major obstacle in developing practical and accurate reactive transport models. The local mixing process governs (and may limit) the ability of reactants that are at close distance to establish direct contact and enable chemical reactions. However, continuum-scale reactive transport models typically neglect the role of mixing at the pore scale (and any other model-unresolved scales). This is partly because the precise link between a porous medium's micro-structure and its resulting mixing behavior has not been rigorously established yet; but also due to a lack of robust, generalized models and tools to account for local mixing and its upscaled effects. The goal of MixUp is to develop a first-of-its-kind upscaled transport modeling approach for mixing and reaction, founded on the underlying micro-scale physics, that can accurately account for local mixing in granular media, and that can be readily integrated within existing continuum-scale reactive models and codes. This will be attained by taking advantage of the recent ""A Closer Look"" simulation dataset, which contains the results of high-resolution Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations of pore-scale transport and mixing in granular media columns with an unprecedentedly large domain size, and also features different degrees of grain-size variability. A first implementation of the upscaled approach will be used to evaluate the importance of local mixing for reactive processes within mountain hillslopes."
Fields of science
- natural sciencesphysical sciencescondensed matter physicssoft matter physics
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesclassical mechanicsfluid mechanicsfluid dynamicscomputational fluid dynamics
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsrenewable energygeothermal energy
- natural scienceschemical sciences
Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European FellowshipsCoordinator
35042 RENNES
France