On Preferential Flow, Channeling and Connectivity in Heterogeneous Porous Formations

This paper analyzes the emergence of channeling and preferential flow in heterogeneous porous media. Connectivity is studied through the statistical characterization of the length L of connected, high velocity patterns in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional media. A simple, physically based, fully analytic expression for the probability of L has been derived. It is found that the length L of connected, high velocity channels is flow-related and can be much larger than the conductivity integral scale I. Heterogeneity has a considerable impact on emergence of channeling patterns; connectivity is considerably enhanced in three-dimensional structures as compared to two-dimensional ones. The strong dependence on space dimensionality is a warning against the use of two-dimensional numerical models for assessing connectivity and preferential flow in heterogeneous media. The probability p(L) is employed in order to determine the early arrivals of the breakthrough curve at a given control plane; the simple model can be used for a preliminary assessment of preferential flow. Comparison with numerical simulations confirms that the main connectivity features were adequately captured by the model.