Fluid infiltration of a heterogeneous medium: A stochastic model

Abstract

Fluid infiltration of a permeable brick in contact with a pressurized reservoir of fluid is considered. A stochastic model, informed by Darcy's law and the incompressibility of the fluid, shows how the heterogeneity of the permeability field affects the time evolution of the fluid infiltration. In particular, the cause of anomalous (non-Darcian) advance of a plume is determined. The model is applied to bricks that are linear arrays of Sierpinski carpets. These calculated results are compared to experimental results available in the literature, to verify the model and method.