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Fractal model provides an alternative and useful means for studying the transport phenomenon in porous media and analyzing the macroscopic transport properties of porous media, as fractal geometry can successfully characterize disordered and heterogeneous geometrical microstructures of porous media on multi scales. Recently, fractal models on porous media have attracted increasing interests from many different disciplines. In this mini-review paper, a review on fractal models for number-size distribution in porous media is made, and a unified fractal model to characterize pore and particle size distributions is proposed according to the statistical fractal property of the complex microstructure in porous media. Using the fractal scaling laws for pore and fracture size distributions, a fractal capillary bundle model and a fractal tree-like network model are presented and summarized for homogenous and fractured porous media, respectively. And the applications of the fractal capillary bundle model and fractal tree-like network model for analysis of transport physics in porous media are also reviewed.

The transport properties and mechanisms of fractured porous media are very important for oil and gas reservoir engineering, hydraulics, environmental science, chemical engineering, etc. In this paper, a fractal dual-porosity model is developed to estimate the equivalent hydraulic properties of fractured porous media, where a fractal tree-like network model is used to characterize the fracture system according to its fractal scaling laws and topological structures. The analytical expressions for the effective permeability of fracture system and fractured porous media, tortuosity, fracture density and fraction are derived. The proposed fractal model has been validated by comparisons with available experimental data and numerical simulation. It has been shown that fractal dimensions for fracture length and aperture have significant effect on the equivalent hydraulic properties of fractured porous media. The effective permeability of fracture system can be increased with the increase of fractal dimensions for fracture length and aperture, while it can be remarkably lowered by introducing tortuosity at large branching angle. Also, a scaling law between the fracture density and fractal dimension for fracture length has been found, where the scaling exponent depends on the fracture number. The present fractal dual-porosity model may shed light on the transport physics of fractured porous media and provide theoretical basis for oil and gas exploitation, underground water, nuclear waste disposal and geothermal energy extraction as well as chemical engineering, etc.

Spontaneous imbibition in porous media is common in nature, imbibition potential is very important for understanding the imbibition ability, or the ability to keep high imbibition rate for a long time. Structure parameters have influence on imbibition potential. This work investigates the process of spontaneous imbibition of liquid into a fractal tree-like network, taking fractal structure parameters into consideration. The analytical expression for dimensionless imbibition rate with this fractal tree-like network is derived. The influence of structure parameters on imbibition potential is discussed. It is found that optimal diameter ratio $\beta$ is important for networks to have imbibition potential. Moreover, with liquid imbibed in more sub-branches, some structures of parameter combinations will show the characteristic of imbibition potential gradually. Finally, a parameter plane is made to visualize the percentage of good parameter in all possible combinations and to evaluate the imbibition potential of a specific network system more directly. It is also helpful to design and to optimize a fractal network with good imbibition potential.

As a kind of microchannel layout with good transport performance, tree-like branching microchannel network has been widely used for microfluidic systems, however, the optimal analysis of the tree-like branching microchannel network for electroosmotic flow (EOF) to reach a minimized fluidic resistance still needs a deep study. In this work, the EOF in tree-like branching microchannel network is theoretically and numerically studied. It is found that there is an optimal structure of the tree-like branching network for the EOF to achieve a minimum fluidic resistance under the size constraint of constant total channel volume. This work found that the optimal channel radii of the tree-like network for EOF to reach a minimum fluidic resistance satisfy the relationship of $r_k^2={\sum }_{i=1}^N{r}_{k+1,i}^2$, where $r_k$ is the radius of the parent channel, $r_{k+1,i}$ is the radius of the child channels and $N$ is the total number of child channels. This formula can be regarded as an extended Murray’s law for EOF and is helpful for the optimization design of tree-like branching microchannel network for EOF to reach maximum transport efficiency under the constant applied driven voltage.

The present work presents a simplified mathematical model to calculate the flowrate of the combined electroosmotic flow (EOF) and pressure driven laminar flow (PDLF) in the symmetric tree-like microchannel network under the assumptions of small zeta potential and thin electrical double layer. A numerical analysis of the combined EOF and PDLF in symmetric Y-shaped microchannel is also carried out to validate the mathematical model. The analytical results and numerical results are found to be in good agreement with each other. Using the mathematical model, the present work further investigates the effect of diameter ratio of the tree-like network on the flowrate of the combined EOF and PDLF to recognize a possible conclusion being similar to the Murray’s law. Based on the present work, it is found that the symmetric tree-like network has an optimal diameter ratio to achieve the maximum flowrate for the combined EOF and PDLF when the total microchannel volume is constant; however, this optimal diameter ratio for the combined flow disobeys the generalized Murray’s law in a simple form of power function of the branching number $N$, and it is not only related on the branching number, but also depends on the branching level and channel length ratio of the tree-like network. Furthermore, the optimal diameter ratio shows a monotonous transition from $N^{-1/3}$ for the pure PDLF to $N^{-1/2}$ for the pure EOF with the increasing ratio of the driven voltage and driven pressure. The present work discusses the effects of these parameters on the optimal diameter ratio for the combined EOF and PDLF.

Predicting the electrical conductivity of porous media is important for oil reservoirs, rock physics, and fuel cells. In this work, a cuboid embedded with a damaged tree-like network is employed to denote a portion of porous media. Analytical expressions for the electrical conductivity are then derived with the fractal theory. Various structural parameters have been examined in detail for the influence of electrical conductivity. It is found that the increased number of damaged channels means more difficult ion migration and lower electrical conductivity of porous media. In addition, a decreasing length ratio or an increasing diameter ratio will increase electrical conductivity. Moreover, both the channel distribution fractal dimension and tortuosity fractal dimension result in a decrease in electrical conductivity. A comparison of the results predicted by other models yields a good agreement, validating our proposed model. These results may further interpret the transport properties of porous media.

In this paper, we discuss the existence, uniqueness and asymptotic stability of global piecewise $C^1$ solution to the mixed initial-boundary value problem for 1-D quasilinear hyperbolic systems on a tree-like network. Under the assumption of boundary dissipation, when the given boundary and interface functions possess suitably small $C^1$ norm, we obtain the existence and uniqueness of global piecewise $C^1$ solution. Moreover, when they further possess a polynomial or exponential decaying property with respect to $t$, then the corresponding global piecewise $C^1$ solution possesses the same or similar decaying property. These results will be used to show the asymptotic stability of the exact boundary controllability of nodal profile on a tree-like network.