Numerically Investigate The Effect of Geometrical Structure On Permeability and Electrical Conductivity of Porous Media

Permeability and electrical conductivity are significant parameters to describe the physical properties of porous media. To quantitatively explore the relationship between pore structure and hydraulic and electrical conductivity and rapidly predict permeability from conductivity data in engineering. A so-called QSGS stochastic model is used in this work. The lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is employed to calculate the permeability in porous media, and the electrical conductivity is computed by a minimalization energy method. To systematically study the effect of pore structure on hydraulic and electrical conductivities of porous mediums, here we consider the core distribution probability, porosity, tortuosity and the directional growth probability ratio on permeability and electrical conductivity. And the distribution of electrical current flow and fluid flow are also presented to characterize the similarity of them in pore-scale. Our results show that, the permeability and conductivity decrease with the decrease of porosity. And as the core distribution probability and growth direction ratio increase, the permeability-electrical conductivity relationship shows a non-linear phenomenon. And the change of porosity has a linear relationship with conductivity and permeability. Finally, a novel formula is proposed to predict the permeability through conductivity data.