The problem of melting ice in a porous medium saturated with ice and gas

Abstract

The problem of ice formation in a dry, cold, porous medium saturated with ice and gas (air) when pumping warm water is considered in a flat one-dimensional self-similar formulation. The task was considered in volume area. During the injection of warm water from the beginning deep into the reservoir, it spread in a volume region that will divide the reservoir into 3 zones. The first zone was filled with water, the second zone was filled with ice and water, and the third zone was filled with ice and gas. To describe the process of heat and mass transfer, the following hypotheses were used: the temperature of the saturated substance (water, ice or gas) is equal to the temperature of the porous medium; ice and skeleton still; water, ice and skeleton of the reservoir are incompressible; skeletal porosity is constant. On the basis of constructed self-similar solutions, a numerical analysis was performed illustrating the effect of the initial parameters of a dry porous medium saturated with ice and gas, as well as the temperature of the injected water on the temperature and pressure distribution in the porous medium. It has been established that an increase in the temperature of the injected water does not lead to a significant increase in the area of ice decomposition. It is also established that if the pressure of the injected water is increased, this will not lead to a large increase in the area of ice decomposition. However, based on the results obtained, it can be seen that the speed of movement of the melting boundary increases, in particular, as the pressure increases by <i>p<sub>e</sub></i>=0.05 MPa, the intermediate region increases by one and a half times. It was found that it is economically more profitable to pump water with a lower temperature, because water with a higher temperature slightly increases the freezing area of the porous soil.