MACROSCOPIC MANIFESTATIONS OF MICROSCOPIC FLOWS THROUGH POROUS-MEDIA - PHENOMENOLOGY FROM SIMULATION

Recent advances in computational physics allow numerical simulation of three-dimensional complex flows through arbitrarily complex geometrie s. Moreover, new technology for noninvasive imaging provides detailed three-dimensional tomographic reconstructions of porous rocks with a r esolution approaching one micron. These two innovations are leading to new understanding of how the microscopic complexity of natural porous media influences fluid transport at a larger, macroscopic scale. This review describes new insights concerning single-phase and multiphase porous how derived from numerical simulation. In particular, results c oncerning scaling relations between macroscopic parameters, the scale dependence of transport properties, and viscous coupling in multicompo nent flow are emphasized.