Groundwater is an important source of irrigation and drinking water, so keeping it pure is crucial. However, once contaminants get in, it isn’t so easy to get them out — creating systems to remove contaminants from groundwater requires an understanding of the complex way immiscible fluids move through soil. To gain insight into this behavior, engineers can use the phase transport functionality in the COMSOL® software.

When simulating flow in porous media, it can be efficient to simplify the geometric complexity of the real porous material using a homogenized macroscale approach. But what if we don’t know what the effective macroscopic properties are? Here, we look at how to extract the macroscopic flow properties of porosity and permeability from a fully resolved microscale submodel.

When the German engineer F. H. Poetsch first developed the artificial ground freezing (AGF) method in 1883, he did so to avoid water within Belgian coal mines. The method, which first received praise in the late 1800s, remains similar to its original form and is still valuable today. To develop a more effective AGF method, we can turn to simulation analyses.

Simulating fluid flow underground or in other porous media is common in a number of engineering fields, such as agricultural, chemical, civil, and nuclear engineering. To help engineers and scientists simulate different types of porous media flow, the COMSOL Multiphysics® software provides a comprehensive set of physics interfaces. Today, we will go over the various interfaces that you can use and discuss how to choose the best one for your application.

Today, guest blogger and Certified Consultant Ionut Prodan of Boffin Solutions, LLC discusses using a hybrid approach to calculate fracture flux in thin structures. When modeling thin fractures within a 3D porous matrix, you can efficiently describe their pressure field by modeling them as 2D objects via the Fracture Flow interface. Significant fracture flux calculation issues, however, may arise for systems of practical interest, such as hydraulic fractures contained within unconventional reservoirs. See how a hybrid approach overcomes such difficulties.

While our daily lives are clearly affected by the “flashier” parts of the water cycle (rain, snow, etc.), other parts of the cycle — such as the groundwater moving beneath our feet — are just as important. We use groundwater for irrigation and drinking water, and it affects natural processes and habitats. When studying groundwater, it’s often important to understand the movement of various solutes through the water. To predict solute transport, scientists can use multiphysics simulation.

As of version 5.3 of the COMSOL Multiphysics® software, the Subsurface Flow Module includes useful new features that enable you to set up complex modeling tasks more efficiently. For example, when modeling wells, meshing is significantly easier and is more intuitive to set up with the Well feature. In this blog post, we look at the Well feature, discussing how to use it and ways it enhances the modeling process.

People living near waterways can avoid the damaging effects of flooding by building embankments, which can be made safer using bank protection structures. However, factors such as soil pressure, water level fluctuation, and groundwater seepage can cause bank protection structures to deform and eventually collapse. To better understand this issue, researchers modeled a bank protection structure located within the Yangtze River in China, enabling them to predict the structure’s displacement and deformation.

When designing a perforated well to recover oil and gas, choosing the right number of perforations with the appropriate properties is key. Too many holes and you run the risk of equipment failure or injury; too few and you decrease productivity levels. One way to achieve this balance and improve the safety and productivity of the recovery operation is to model fluid flow near the wells. Let’s see how the Application Builder makes this process even more efficient.

Reservoirs, dams, and other outdoor structures need to be strong, reliable, and sound. The porous materials found within these structures can be easily damaged by pressure changes that cause fluid flow and gradual caving and sinking. Using the multiphysics simulation capabilities of COMSOL Multiphysics and the Poroelasticity interface, we can accurately analyze porous materials to evaluate and avoid deformation in such structures.