HYDRAULIC RADIUS AND TRANSPORT IN RECONSTRUCTED MODEL 3-DIMENSIONAL POROUS-MEDIA

Methods for reconstructing three-dimensional porous media from two-dim ensional cross sections are evaluated in terms of the transport proper ties of the reconstructed systems. Two-dimensional slices are selected at random from model three-dimensional microstructures, based on pene trable spheres, and processed to create a reconstructed representation of the original system. Permeability, conductivity, and a critial por e diameter are computed for the original and reconstructed microstruct ures to assess the validity of the reconstruction technique. A surface curvature algorithm is utilized to further modify the reconstructed s ystems by matching the hydraulic radius of the reconstructed three-dim ensional system to that of the two-dimensional slice. While having onl y minor effects on conductivity, this modification significantly impro ves the agreement between permeabilities and critical diameters of the original and reconstructed systems for porosities in the range of 25- 40%. For lower porosities, critical pore diameter is unaffected by the curvature modification so that little improvement between original an d reconstructed permeabilities is obtained by matching hydraulic radii .