Fluid flow

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Poro-plastic filtration coupled to Stokes flow

R.E. Showalter
Oregon State University, Corvallis

ABSTRACT: We report on the model development and mathematical analysis of the exchange of fluid and
stress between a Biot model of an elastic-plastic porous structure saturated with a slightly compressible viscous
fluid coupled to the Stokes flow in an adjacent open channel. The coupled systems of partial differential equations
and interface conditions will be formulated in a mixed variational setting and resolved by nonlinear semigroup
methods.

1 INTRODUCTION tensor (u1 ). The symmetric derivative of a vector

Visco-elastic and elastic-plastic behaviors of porous
media are common, especially in soils, and gener-
ally for materials of interest in geomechanics. Var-
ious approaches to include appropriate constitutive
equations have been developed, and many numeri-
cal codes include plasticity models (Coussy 1989),
(Coussy 1995), (Minkoff, Stone, Arguello, Bryant,
Eaton, Peszynska, and Wheeler 1999), (Settari and
Mourits 1994), (Zienkiewicz, Chan, Pastor, Schrefler,
and Shiomi 1999). Another example arises from the
irreversible fluid content that corresponds to the plas-
tic porosity of the porous medium, and these examples
illustrate the need for the inclusion of hysteresis in
models of deforming porous media. Such memory
dependent phenomena as secondary viscosity and hys-
teresis effects in models of flow and transport in (rigid)
porous media have been studied by nonlinear semi-
group techniques as in (Showalter and Shi 1997),
(Visintin 1994). In recent work of (Showalter and
Stefanelli 2004), we have developed a very gen-
eral model for Darcy flow through a viscous-plastic
medium in the form of the coupled system of partial
differential and functional equations
The system (1) is of Biot type (Biot 1941), (Biot 1955),
(Biot 1972) and consists of the diffusion equation for
the pressure, the conservation equation for momen-
tum, and a constitutive relation for the deformation
response of the medium, respectively. The constitutive
relation (1c) involves the stress 1 and the small strain
function v(x) is the tensor ij (v) 12 (i vj ) + j vi ).
The slow flow through an adjacent open channel,
possibly a macropore, an isolated cavity, or a con-
nected fracture system, is described by the compress-
ible Stokes system (Temam 1979), (Snchez-Palencia
1980)
In the limiting case of an incompressible fluid, we have
c2 = 0 and classical Stokes flow,
The Biot system (1) includes a very extensive vari-
ety of models. Moreover, the theory developed in
(Showalter and Stefanelli 2004) permits highly degen-
erate situations in which some (or even all) of the
parameters c1 ,1 , and k may vanish! Specifically,
we include any combination of the quasi-static case,
1 = 0, the incompressible case, c1 = 0, the uncou-
pled case, c0 = 0, and even the impermeable case,
k = 0. The porous solid is a very general rheologi-
cal material made up of the parallel combination of
elementary components of various types, elastic, vis-
cous, and plastic, with combinations of kinematic and
isotropic hardening. Such a construction requires the
introduction of internal variables (Han and Reddy
1999), (Simo and Hughes 1998), (Visintin 1994).
Our objective is to formulate a model of a composite
poro-mechanical system which accurately character-
izes the fluid exchange and stress balance between

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Copyright 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK
the elastic-plastic porous medium and a contiguous p2 are the thermodynamic pressure of the barotropic
fluid-filled chamber, and to show that this model fluid in the respective regions. The Biot-Stokes system
leads to a mathematically well-posed problem which takes the form
is amenable to analysis and computation. The inter-
face coupling conditions include the continuity of the
normal fluid flux and of stress. Two additional consti-
tutive relations concern the dependence of the Darcy
flux at the interface on the pressure increment and
the effect of the tangential component of stress on the
velocity increment at the interface. The former is a
classical Robin-type condition, and the latter is the slip
condition of Beavers-Joseph-Saffman.

2 THE BIOT-STOKES SYSTEM

The first (3a) is the storeage equation for the fluid
3 mass conservation in the pores of the matrix in which
Suppose that disjoint regions 1 and 2 in IR share
the flux q is the relative velocity of the fluid within the
the common interface, 12 = 1 2 . The first
porous structure given by Darcys law. This is written
region 1 is the porous matrix structure, and the sec-
in the form (3b) of a force balance in which the flow
ond region 2 is the adjacent macro-void system.
resistance tensor Q is the inverse of the conductivity
Denote by n the unit normal vector on the boundaries,
tensor kij . The third set of equations (3c) is the standard
directed out of 1 and into 2 . The derivative with
Navier system for the conservation of momentum of
respect to time will be denoted by a superscript dot,
the matrix structure, and 0 arises from secondary
so v1 (x, t) = u 1 (x, t) denotes the velocity correspond-
consolidation effects. The constitutive relation (3d) is
ing to a displacement u1 (x, t) of the porous structure
the differential form of the elastic-plastic stress-strain
at x 1 . Let v2 (x, t) be the velocity of the fluid at
relationship. These first four equations are equivalent
x 2 . The fluid pressure in 1 is p1 (x, t) and in the
to the Biot system (1), and they can be generalized
adjacent channel system 2 is p2 (x, t).
to include quasilinear diffusion Q( ) and nonlinear
The mechanical behavior of the porous solid is
dissipation ( ) in addition to the highly nonlinear
determined by classical small-strain elasticity. Bold-
constitutive relation (3d).
face letters indicate vectors in IR3 and Greek letters
The last three equations are just the compressible
are used for symmetric second-order tensors. Repeated
Stokes system (2) for pressure p2 (x, t) and velocity
indices are summed, so the scalar product of two vec-
v2 (x, t) of the fluid. The equation (3e) accounts for the
tors is v w = vi wi , and that of two second-order
fluid mass conservation in the channel, and (3f) is the
tensors is : = ij ij . Let n = {ni } be the unit nor-
momentum conservation equation. The gravitational
mal vector on a surface. For a vector w, we denote
force g contributes to both of these. The Newtonian
the normal projection wn = w n and the tangential
fluid is described by the constitutive relation (3g) in
component wT = w wn n. Similar notation is used for
which the tensor C 2 is the inverse to the viscosity
tensors.
tensor.

2.1 The system 2.2 Boundary and interface conditions

We shall write the constitutive equations together We choose the boundary conditions on 1 2
with the conservation equations for mass and momen- 12 in a classical simple form, since they play no
tum balance as a system of first-order partial dif- essential role here. On the exterior boundary of the
ferential equations in each of the two regions. The porous medium, 1 12 , we shall impose drained
constitutive laws are written in the differential form conditions p1 = 0 on fluid pressure and the clamped
M( 1 ) + L( 1 ) $ (v)1 for the stress 1 correspond- condition v1 = 0 on velocity of the structure. On the
ing to the strain rate (v1 ) in the porous structure and exterior boundary of the free fluid, 2 12 , we shall
ij2 = 2 ij (v2 )kk + 22 (v2 )ij in 2 for the viscous
stress corresponding to the strain rate (v2 ) of the New-
tonian fluid. For a purely elastic structure, L = 0 and
M is the compliance tensor. For plasticity models, L()
is a variational inequality. Note that 1 c0 p1 is the
total stress due to deformation and pore pressure p1
within the matrix, and 2 p2 is the combined vis-
cous and pressure stress of the fluid. Here both p1 and
Copyright 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK
impose the no-slip condition v2 = 0 on fluid velocity.
More general conditions can be given as in (Showalter
and Stefanelli 2004).
In order to complete a well-posed problem, addi-
tional interface conditions must be imposed across the
interior boundary 12 . Lets begin by reviewing the
interface conditions that have been used previously to
couple various models of fluid and solid composites.
524
2.2.1 Fluidsolid contact
The natural transmission conditions at the interface
of a free fluid and an impervious solid consist of
the continuity of displacement and of stress (Sanchez
Hubert and Snchez-Palencia 1989). The effective
flow through a rigid micro-porous and permeable
matrix is described by the Darcy law, qi = kij j p1 ,
where q is the filtration velocity or flux of fluid
driven by a pressure gradient, and kij is the con-
ductivity. In fact, Darcys law can be realized as
the upscaled limit by averaging or homogenization
of a fine-scale periodic array of a rigid solid and
intertwined fluid. See (Tartar 1980), (Allaire 1992),
(Hornung 1997). Similar results are obtained when
the solid is permitted to be elastic, and then various
scalings of the viscosity lead to a viscous solid or
to the Biot model of poroelasticity (1). See (Auriault
and Snchez-Palencia 1977), (Sanchez-Hubert 1980),
(Snchez-Palencia 1980), (Burridge and Keller 1981),
(Vernescu 1989), (Auriault, Strzelecki, Bauer, and He
1990), (Ene and Vernescu 1995), (Auriault 1997),
(Terada, Ito, and Kikuchi 1998).
2.2.2 Fluidporous medium
The description of a free fluid in contact with a rigid
but porous matrix requires a means to couple the
fluid flow to the upscaled Darcy filtration. Since a
Stokes system is used for the free fluid, we have two
distinct scales of hydrodynamics, and these are repre-
sented by two completely different systems of partial
differential equations. Fluid conservation is a natu-
ral requirement at the interface, and other classically
assumed conditions such as continuity of pressure or
vanishing tangential velocity of the viscous fluid have
been investigated (Ene and Snchez-Palencia 1975),
(Levy and Snchez-Palencia 1975), but these issues
have been controversial. See the discussion on p. 157 of
(Snchez-Palencia 1980). In fact, one can even ques-
tion the location of the interface, since the porous
medium itself is already a mixture of fluid and solid.
Moreover, it was reported in (Beavers and Joseph
1967) that fluid in contact with a porous medium flows
faster along the interface than a fluid in contact with a
solid surface: there is a substantial slip of the fluid at
the interface with a porous medium. It was proposed
that the normal derivative of the tangential component
of fluid velocity vT satisfy
where K is the permeability of the porous medium,
and is the slip rate coefficient. This condition
was developed further by (Saffman 1971) and (Jones
1973), and a substantial rigorous analysis of such
interface conditions was given by (Jger and Mikelic
1996), (Jger and Mikelic 2000). See (Nield and
Bejan 1999), (McKay 2001) for excellent discussions,
525
Copyright 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK
(Salinger, Aris, and Derby 1994), (Gartling, Hickox,
and Givler 1996), (Layton, Schieweck, and Yotov
2002), (Arbogast and Brunson), (Arbogast, Brunson,
Bryant, and J.W. Jennings 2004) for numerical work,
(Payne and Straughan 1998) for dependence on the
slip parameter, and (Arbogast and Lehr 2004) for
homogenization results on related problems.
2.2.3 Fluidelastic porous medium
Any model of free fluid in contact with a deformable
and porous medium contains the upscaled filtration
velocity in addition to the displacement and stress vari-
ations of the porous matrix. These must be coupled to
the Stokes flow, so all of the previous issues are pre-
sent in the interface conditions. See (Murad, Guerreiro,
and Loula 2000), (Murad, Guerreiro, and Loula 2001),
(Showalter 2004).
2.2.4 Fluidelastic-plastic porous medium
We begin with the mass-conservation requirement that
the normal fluid flux be continuous across the inter-
face. For this purpose, we introduce the parameter
which represents the surface fraction of the interface
on which the diffusion paths of the structure are sealed.
The remaining fraction 1 is the contact surface
along 12 , where the diffusion paths of the porous
medium are exposed to the fluid in the open chan-
nel, and so the motion of the structure contributes to
the interfacial fluid mass flux. Thus, the solution is
required to satisfy the admissability constraint
for the conservation of fluid mass across the inter-
face. We shall assume that the Darcy flow across 12 is
driven by the difference between the total normal stress
of the fluid and the pressure internal to the porous
medium according to
The constant 0 is the fluid entry resistance. The
conservation of momentum requires that the total
stress of the porous medium is balanced by the total
stress of the fluid. For the normal component this
means
and for the tangential component we have
Finally, this common tangential stress is assumed to be
proportional to the slip rate according to the Beavers-
Joseph-Saffman condition
We have shown that the interface conditions (4) suffice where n and T denote normal and tangential trace on
precisely to couple the Biot system (1) in 1 to the the interface. Then the system (3), (4) takes the form
Stokes system (2) in 2 .
3 THE INITIAL-VALUE PROBLEM
The system (3) with (4) can be written in the form
in appropriate function spaces V and H where the
linear operator A : H H
is degenerate, symmet-
ric and nonnegative, and the nonlinear B : V V
3.2 Remarks
is monotone. These operators are defined below. The
evolution equation (5a) is to be solved subject to the
initial condition
The equation (5a) is an example of an implicit evo-
lution equation with degenerate operators as coef-
ficients, sometimes known as a degenerate Sobolev
equation; see (Showalter 1997).
3.1 The mixed formulation
Here we consider the system (3), (4), but re-order
the variables according to their role in the physics
of the model, not in the geometry of the problem.
Thus, we separate the variables into two spaces.
The first space X consists of admissable veloci-
ties, X = {[q, v1 , v2 ] : (c0 (1 )v1 + q) n = v2
n}, and the second space Y contains the general-
ized stresses, Y = {[p1 , 1 , p2 , 2 ]}. We define the
operators
by means of the matrix operators
Copyright 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK
for the unknowns x [q, v1 , v2 ] X, y [p1 , 1 , p2 ,
2 ] Y. Now set
to get the system into the form (5a) on V = X Y.
The means by which we establish the solvability of the
system will depend critically on how much degener-
acy occurs in the operators. For example, in the least
degenerate case in which all the constants c1 , 1 , c2 , 2
are strictly positive, the resolution is straightforward.
In the mathematically more interesting and practically
more relevant situations, some of these coefficients
will vanish. In many of these cases, we can eliminate
appropriate variables, thereby obtaining elliptic terms
in the system, and then solve the reduced higher order
system.
This mixed formulation requires a closed range con-
dition on the operator B, and it provides a natural and
well established approach to the numerical approxi-
mation of the problem; see (Brezzi and Fortin 1991).
In addition, the analysis of this formulation provides a
means to establish the relation with the singular limits
such as the incompressible case c2 = 0 of the Stokes
flow and the quasistatic case 1 = 0 of consolidation
processes.These issues will be developed for nonlinear
extensions of these models in forthcoming works.
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