The role of coordination number and pore size distribution on flow organization in porous media

Understanding and computing fluid flow in porous media is relevant for many environmental and industrial applications. However, directly computing the flow on complex and large geometries is limited by computational capacities. To tackle this issue, many studies have aimed at relating flow distributions to the geometrical properties of the domain. However, understanding the relation between the the pore-scale structure and the experienced velocity distribution is still a challenge.
To improve this understanding we study well defined pore network models in 2D and 3D. We vary three main parameters: the coordination number that determine the amount of connections that a pore body has, the distribution of pore sizes, and geometric disorder.

We focus on the impact of these parameters on the flow organization in term of the distribution of flow speeds and local pressure gradients. We conclude that distribution of pore sizes and the coordination number are the main geometrical features that control the Eulerian speed distribution.