Solution of the stokes equation in three-dimensional geometry by the finite-difference method

Abstract

The recent progress in the methods for the study of the three-dimensional structure of porous and composite materials (microtomography, confocal microscopy, and FIB-SEM) and the significant improvement in the available computational resources make it possible to simulate various processes directly in the three dimensional geometry of samples of such materials (pore-scale modeling) in order to determine their effective properties or to get a more detailed understanding of the studied processes, such as filtration. In this work, we solve the Stokes equation by the finite-difference method using schemes of the second and fourth orders of accuracy in a three-dimensional domain whose geometry reproduces the microstructure of the investigated rock samples. The numerical values of permeability obtained for a sample of sandstone are consistent with the data of laboratory measurements.