A numerical study on the effect of rolling friction on clogging of pores in particle-laden flows

TL;DR

Particulate flows through constrictions experience clogging due to bridging, which depends on particle interactions near pore throats. The authors develop a particle-resolved IBM-DEM DNS framework with Luding-based rolling resistance to quantify how rolling friction affects clogging. Validation across six tests shows the method accurately captures rolling dynamics, pressure drops, and bridging events, while simulations reveal that increasing the rolling friction coefficient $\mu^r$ promotes stable bridges and reduces permeability via clog formation. The work provides mechanistic insight into formation damage and offers an open-source tool for three-dimensional, pore-scale clogging studies with practical implications for reservoir design and management.

Abstract

Particulate matter in a fluid injected into a porous reservoir impairs its permeability spatio-temporally due to pore clogging. As particle volume fraction increases near the pore throats, inter-particle contact mechanics determine their jamming and subsequent pore clogging behavior. During contact of particles submerged in a fluid, in addition to sliding friction, a rolling resistance develops due to a several micromechanical and hydrodynamic factors. A coefficient of rolling friction is often used as a lumped parameter to characterize particle rigidity, particle shape, lubrication and fluid mediated resistance, however its direct influence on the clogging behavior is not well studied in literature. We study the effect of rolling resistance on the clogging behavior of a dense suspension at pore scale using direct numerical simulations (DNS). A discrete element method (DEM) library is developed and coupled with an open-source immersed boundary method (IBM) based solver to perform pore and particle resolved simulations. Several 3D validations are presented for the DEM library and the DEM-IBM coupling and the effect of rolling resistance on clogging at a pore entry is studied.

Figures (16)

• Figure 1: Forces and torques experienced by a particle during collision.
• Figure 2: Interpretation of particle by (a)DEM and (b)IBM
• Figure 3: Schematic of a disk rolling on a flat surface
• Figure 4: Rolling of a circular disk on (a) a flat plane — distance traveled by the disk compared against ai_assessment_2011; and (b) an inclined plane — distance traveled by the disk for different rolling friction coefficients
• Figure 5: Rolling of a sphere on a flat surface under the influence of rolling friction. Time evolution of (a) distance traveled (b) rolling friction torque experienced by the sphere compared against those experienced by a disk of equal radius and volume.