Flow through porous media at the percolation transition

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

We study low-Reynolds-number fluid flow through a two-dimensional porous medium modeled as a Lorentz gas. Using extensive finite-element simulations we fully resolve the flow fields for packing fractions approaching the percolation threshold. Near the percolation transition, we find a power-law scaling of the flow rate versus the packing fraction with an exponent of ≈5/2, which was predicted earlier by mapping the macroscopic flow to a discrete flow network [B. I. Halperin, Phys. Rev. Lett. 54, 2391 (1985)0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.54.2391]. Importantly, we observe a rounding of the scaling behavior at small system sizes, which can be rationalized via a finite-size scaling ansatz. Finally, we show that the distribution of the kinetic energy exhibits a power-law scaling over several decades at small energies, originating from collections of self-similar, viscous eddies in the dead-end channels. Our results lay the foundation for unraveling critical behavior of complex fluids omnipresent in biological and geophysical systems.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article numberL012032
Number of pages6
JournalPhysical Review Research
Volume7 (2025)
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - 12 Feb 2025
Peer-reviewedYes

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas