Anisotropic Modelings of the Hydrothermal Convection in Layered Porous Media.

Abstract

Equivalence of anisotropic modelings of the hydrothermal convection to the layered permeability distribution is examined by 2-D numerical imulations. Permeability varies sinusoidally in horizontal or vertical directions. For the horizontally layered cases, flow fields approach monotonically to the corresponding anisotropic models, as the wavelength of permeability variation decreases. We find that the anisotropic modeling for this case may become valid, when the wavelength of permeability variation is equal to or less than the thickness of thermal boundary layers. For the vertically layered cases, since the vertical motion of the fluid is sensitive to the horizontal variation of permeability, the cell structure is different from the corresponding anisotropic models.