Exact Averaging of Stochastic Equations for Flow in Porous Media

Abstract

It is well-known that at present, exact averaging of the equations for flow and transport in random porous media have been proposed for limited special fields. Moreover, approximate averaging methods—for example, the convergence behavior and the accuracy of truncated perturbation series—are not well-studied, and in addition, calculation of high-order perturbations is very complicated. These problems have for a long time stimulated attempts to find the answer to the question: Are there in existence some, exact, and sufficiently general forms of averaged equations? Here, we present an approach for finding the general exactly averaged system of basic equations for steady flow with sources in unbounded stochastically homogeneous fields. We do this by using (1) the existence and some general properties of Green’s functions for the appropriate stochastic problem, and (2) some information about the random field of conductivity. This approach enables us to find the form of the averaged equations without directly solving the stochastic equations or using the usual assumption regarding any small parameters. In the common case of a stochastically homogeneous conductivity field we present the exactly averaged new basic non-local equation with a unique kernel-vector. We show that in the case of some type of global symmetry (isotropy, transversal isotropy, or orthotropy), we can for three-dimensional and two-dimensional flow in the same way derive the exact averaged non-local equations with a unique kernel-tensor. When global symmetry does not exist, the non-local equation with a kernel-tensor involves complications and leads to an ill-posed problem.