A thermodynamic Description of Steady-State Two-Phase Flow in Porous Media

The main objective of this proposal is to find a statistical mechanical and a non-equilibrium thermodynamic description of steady state two-phase flow in porous media. We expect that this will lead to a number of unsuspected relations between previously unrelated quantities such as mobility and relative permeability. Such relations will be of great importance, as the relative permeability is one of the most important reservoir parameters that are measured routinely in connection with oil extraction.

I am also working  on thermoelectric power generation. We developed a transient model with a time dependent temperature profile in hope to better understand the recovery of waste heat by using non-equilibrium thermodynamics.

The research group consists of Alex Hansen, Signe Kjelstrup, Dick Bedeaux, Santanu Sinha and Morten Vassvik.  We also work in close collaboration with Knut Måloy at UiO.

Project group: Santanu Sinha (UiO), Dick Bedeaux (NTNU), Signe Kjelstrup (NTNU), Isha Savani (VISTA PhD), Morten Vassvik (NTNU) and Alex Hansen (NTNU)