Numerical experiments on convective heat transfer in water-saturated porous media at near-critical conditions

Abstract

Fluid and heat flow at temperatures approaching or exceeding that at the critical point (374 °C for pure water, higher for saline fluids) may be encountered in deep zones of geothermal systems and above cooling intrusives. In the vicinity of the critical point the density and internal energy of fluids show very strong variations for small temperature and pressure changes. This suggests that convective heat transfer from thermal buoyancy flow would be strongly enhanced at near-critical conditions. This has been confirmed in laboratory experiments. We have developed special numerical techniques for modeling porous flow at near-critical conditions, which can handle the extreme nonlinearities in water properties near the critical point. Our numerical simulations show strong enhancements of convective heat transfer at near-critical conditions; however, the heat transfer rates obtained in the simulations are considerably smaller than data reported from laboratory experiments by Dunn and Hardee. We discuss possible reasons for this discrepancy and develop suggestions for additional laboratory experiments.