Abstract
We investigate fluid flow through disordered porous media by direct simulation of the Navier-Stokes equations in a two-dimensional percolation structure. We find, in contrast to the log-normal distribution for the local currents found in the analog random resistor network, that over roughly 5 orders of magnitude the distribution of local kinetic energy follows a power law, with , where for the entire cluster, while for fluid flow in the backbone only. Thus the “stagnant” zones play a significant role in transport through porous media, in contrast to the dangling ends for the analogous electrical problem.
- Received 7 May 1997
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.79.3901
©1997 American Physical Society