A THREE DIMENSIONAL NETWORK MODEL FOR CONSOLIDATED POROUS MEDIA. BASIC STUDIES

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Abstract
A three-dimensional porous medium model that pertains to consolidated permeable porous rocks and similar structures is proposed. The porous medium is considered as a network of chambers connected through long narrow throats and it is approximated as a network of unit cells of the constricted tube type. The skeleton of the network can be either regular or randomized, and the throat-to-chamber coordination number can be varied by randomly removing a number of throats. The sizes of contiguous chambers and throats can be cither independent random variables, or they can be correlated. This correlation can be positive (large chambers preferring large throats), or negative (large chambers preferring small throats). The permeability of the network is found to be minimal when the chambers and throats are completely uncorrected. The degree of correlation also affects the throat-to-chamber size ratio, a parameter which is very important in two-phase flows through porous media. A substantial correlation between the local intensity of the flow field on one hand and the local porosity and throat diameter on the other is found. @KEYWORDS: Pore network model, Consolidated porous media.