Numerical calculation of Effective Thermal Conductivity in Fractured Porous Media

A numerical approach is employed here to derive the heat transfera correlation for effective thermal conductivity, keff, of in fractured porous media. This correlation is applicable to all range of fracture orientation. The lower bound of this range includes a fracture horizontal to the direction of heat flow, whereas the upper bound covers a vertical fracture. The validity of the model was tested using two different approaches. First, the model results for the lower and upper bounds are compared with the available analytical relations; subsequently the impact of fracture orientation and its thickness was examined. The Both verification methodsprocedures have shown very good agreement between experimental results and model the predicted data from the correlationions. MATLAB® curve fitting tools was employed to derive the mentioned correlation.

Keywords:

Thermal Conductivity , Fractured Porous Media , Thermal Enhanced Oil Recovery , Numerical Simulation