Abstract
We provide three-dimensional numerical simulations of the thermohaline-driven buoyancy of a brine “parcel” immersed in an initially homogeneous porous medium of hydrological interest. Our purpose is to improve our understanding of the thermohaline flow through the 3D visualization of the evolving patterns generated by the distributions of brine, temperature, and fluid density in the porous medium. We propose a possible physical interpretation of our results, which are obtained within the approximations usually employed in the context of density- and temperature-driven flow.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bear J.: Hydraulics of groundwater. Dover Publications, Inc, Mineola, New York (USA) (1979)
Oldenburg C.M., Pruess K.: Layered thermohaline convection in hypersaline geothermal systems. Transp. Porous Media 33, 29–63 (1998)
Oldenburg C.M., Pruess K.: Plume separation by transient thermohaline convection in porous media. Geophys. Res. Lett. 26(19), 2997–3000 (1998)
Oldenburg, C.M., Pruess, K.: Thermohaline convective mixing at a brine interface. In: Proceedings of the 25th workshop on geothermal reservoir engineering (SGP-TR-165). Standford University, Stanford, California (USA), Jan 24–26th, (2000)
Landau L.D., Lifshitz E.M.: Fluid mechanics. 2nd Edn. Course of theoretical physics. vol. 6. Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford (UK) (2003)
Grillo, A., Lampe, M., Wittum, G.: Modeling and Simulation of temperature-density-driven flow and thermodiffusion in porous media. Journal of Porous Media, Accepted (2011)
Diersch, H.-J.G., Kolditz, O.: Variable-density flow and transport in porous media: approaches and challenges. In Wasy software FEFLOW—finite element subsurface flow and transport simulation system. White Papers, Vol. II, Wasy GmbH Institute for Water Resources and Systems Research, Berlin, Germany (2005)
Frolkovič P., DeSchepper H.: Numerical modeling of convective dominated transport with density driven flow in porous media. Adv. Water Resour. 24(1), 63–72 (2001)
Fein, E.: d 3 f—Ein Programmpaket zur Modellierung von dichtegetriebenen Strömungen. GRS, Braunschweig, GRS-139, ISBN 3-923875-97-5 (1998)
Bastian P., Birken K., Eckstein K., Johannsen K., Lang S., Neuss N., Rentz-Reichert H.: \({\mathcal{UG} }\) —a flexible software toolbox for solving partial differential equations. Comput. Vis. Sci. 1(1), 27–40 (1997)
UG home page, http://atlas.gcsc.uni-frankfurt.de/~ug
Knaber P., Frolkovič P. et al.: Consistent velocity approximation for finite volume or element discretizations of density-driven flow in porous media. In: Aldama, A.A. (eds) Computational Methods in Water Resources XI, vol. 1—Computation Methods in Subsurface Flow and Transport Problems, pp. 93–100. Computation Mechanics Publications, Southampton (1996)
Nield D.A., Kuznetsov A.V.: A two-velocity two-temperature model for a bi-dispersed porous medium: forced convection in a channel. Transp. Porous Med. 59, 325–339 (2005)
Diersch H.-J.G., Kolditz O.: Variable-density flow and transport in porous media: approaches and challenges. Adv. Water Resour. 25(8), 899–944 (2002)
Bear J.: Dynamics of Fluids in Porous Media, pp. 645–647. Dover Publications, Inc., New York (USA) (1972)
Holstad A.: Temperature-driven flow in porous media using a Mixed Finite Element Method and Finite Volume Method. Adv. Water Resour. 24, 843–862 (2001)
Johannsen K., Kinzelbach W., Oswald S., Wittum G.: The Saltpool benchmark problem—numerical simulation of saltwater upconing in a porous medium. Adv. Water Resour. 25(3), 335–348 (2001)
Frolkovič P.: Finite volume discretization of density driven flows in porous media. In: Benkhaldoun, F., Vilsmeier, R. (eds) Finite Volumes for Complex Applications, pp. 433–440. Hermes, Paris (1996)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Communicated by Sabine Attinger.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Grillo, A., Lampe, M. & Wittum, G. Three-dimensional simulation of the thermohaline-driven buoyancy of a brine parcel. Comput. Visual Sci. 13, 287–297 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00791-010-0145-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00791-010-0145-1