Study of Liquid Flow Through a Channel With Adjacent Porous Domains of Different Material Properties

Key Points

• To investigate liquid flow dynamics through a fracture or channel bounded by two distinct porous domains exhibiting different geometric and hydraulic properties.
• Applied a unified numerical framework combining the Theory of Porous Media (TPM) with an embedded Phase-Field (PF) fracture model.
• Simulated fluid transport through a central channel bounded by asymmetric porous matrix regions.
• Demonstrated pronounced asymmetric fluid flow patterns and velocity gradients across the boundary between the channel and the contrasting porous domains.
• Identified critical design considerations for experimental micromodels used to evaluate subsurface fluid dynamics and filtration processes.