Principal Investigator John Williams
Hydraulic Sand Failure -- Hydraulic sand failure poses significant problems in industry, particularly for borehole stability. Sandy oil reservoir media can be prone to collapse due to the hydraulic forces of fluid flow. This example shows a coupled Lattice-Boltzmann/DEM simulation of such a collapse where the borehole is positioned vertically to the right of the particle pack. Understanding the mechanisms of such collapse can allow improved borehole lining and drilling practices to avoid such failures.
Hydraulic Erosion -- A significant problem in oil recovery is flow induced instability of the reservoir rock and potential for fluid flow to cause pore throat erosion and subsequent collapse. This example demonstrates the 2D coupled Lattice-Boltzmann/DEM code simulating pore throat erosion due to fluid flow. The throat is initially modeled with bonded discrete particles which break off due to flow induced stresses.