Berkeley Fluids Seminar

University of California, Berkeley

Bring your lunch and enjoy learning about fluids!

3110 Etcheverry Hall, 12:00-13:00

Monday, April 17, 2017

Dr. Cyprien Soulaine (Stanford)

Mineral dissolution and wormholing from a pore-scale perspective


Abstract: A micro-continuum approach is proposed to simulate the dissolution of solid minerals at the pore-scale under single-phase-flow conditions. The approach employ a the Darcy-Brinkman-Stokes formulation and locally averaged conservation laws combined with immersed boundary conditions for the chemical reaction at the solid surface. The methodology compares well with the Arbitrary-Lagrangian-Eulerian technique. The simulation framework is validated using an experimental microfluidic device to image the dissolution of a single calcite crystal. The evolution of the calcite crystal during the acidizing process is analyzed and related to flow conditions, i.e., Péclet and Damköhler numbers. Macroscopic laws for the dissolution rate are proposed by upscaling the pore-scale simulations. Finally, the emergence of wormholes during the injection of acid in a two-dimensional domain of calcite grains is discussed based on pore-scale simulations.


Biography: Dr. Cyprien Soulaine is a Research Associate in the Department of Energy Resources Engineering at Stanford University. Cyprien has a PhD in Fluid Dynamics from the Institut de Mécanique des Fluides de Toulouse, France (2012). His work uses fundamental research on fluid flow and transport in porous media to bridge the gap between the scales and to develop relevant mathematical models and simulation tools at different scales. His research on porous media applies to very different domains such as chemical engineering (adsorption and distillation processes for air separation units and carbon capture), nuclear engineering (cooling of superconductor magnets with superfluid Helium), and subsurface engineering (water resources management, CO2 sequestration, acid stimulation, Enhanced Oil Recovery, unconventional resources).
Dr. Soulaine is very involved with the community open source software OpenFOAM. In May, Dr. Soulaine will teach a course on this software.




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Acknowledgments

Prof. Graham Fleming (Vice Chancellor for Research, UC Berkeley)

Prof. Eliot Quataert on behalf of The Theoretical Astrophysics Center and the Astronomy Department (UC Berkeley)

Prof. Philip S. Marcus on behalf of the Mechanical Engineering Department (UC Berkeley)

Prof. Michael Manga (Earth and Planetary Science, UC Berkeley)

Prof. Evan Variano (Civil and Environmental Engineering, UC Berkeley)


© Cédric Beaume