Basic transport properties in natural porous media: Continuum percolation theory and fractal model
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Percolation Theory
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Abstract Previous models of noncatalytic gas‐solid reactions are based primarily on parallelpore representations, thus excluding important topological effects of the porous medium. This paper utilizes network representations and percolation theory to develop expressions for pore closure time and the evolution of accessible volume, effective diffusivity, and conversion rates.
Percolation Theory
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The theory of percolation, originally proposed over 30 years ago to describe flow phenomena in porous media, has undergone enormous development in recent years, primarily in the field of physics. The principal advantage of percolation theory is that it provides universal laws which determine the geometrical and physical properties of the system. This survey discusses developments and results in percolation theory to date, and identifies aspects relevant to problems in groundwater hydrology. The methods of percolation theory are discussed, previous applications of the theory to hydrological problems are reviewed, and future directions for study are suggested.
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Abstract We describe the most important developments in the application of three theoretical tools to modeling of the morphology of porous media and flow and transport processes in them. One tool is percolation theory. Although it was over 40 years ago that the possibility of using percolation theory to describe flow and transport processes in porous media was first raised, new models and concepts, as well as new variants of the original percolation model are still being developed for various applications to flow phenomena in porous media. The other two approaches, closely related to percolation theory, are the critical‐path analysis, which is applicable when porous media are highly heterogeneous, and the effective medium approximation— poor man's percolation —that provide a simple and, under certain conditions, quantitatively correct description of transport in porous media in which percolation‐type disorder is relevant. Applications to topics in geosciences include predictions of the hydraulic conductivity and air permeability, solute and gas diffusion that are particularly important in ecohydrological applications and land‐surface interactions, and multiphase flow in porous media, as well as non‐Gaussian solute transport, and flow morphologies associated with imbibition into unsaturated fractures. We describe new applications of percolation theory of solute transport to chemical weathering and soil formation, geomorphology, and elemental cycling through the terrestrial Earth surface. Wherever quantitatively accurate predictions of such quantities are relevant, so are the techniques presented here. Whenever possible, the theoretical predictions are compared with the relevant experimental data. In practically all the cases, the agreement between the theoretical predictions and the data is excellent. Also discussed are possible future directions in the application of such concepts to many other phenomena in geosciences.
Percolation Theory
Percolation (cognitive psychology)
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