Fluid Flow in the Subsurface : History, Generalization and Applications of Physical Laws

This book presents a systematic attempt to generalize several fundamental physical laws related to subsurface fluid flow that are important for a number of contemporary applications in the areas of hydrogeology, reservoir engineering and rock mechanics. It also covers the history of discovering these physical laws, their respective scope of validity, and their generalizations or extensions. 

The physical laws discussed include Darcy’s law, Darcy-Buckingham law and Hooke’s law. Darcy’s law is the fundamental law for subsurface fluid flow. For low-permeability media, it is not always adequate because of the strong fluid–solid interaction. Though the Darcy-Buckingham law is often used for modeling subsurface multiphase flow, it is only valid under the local equilibrium condition. This condition does not hold in many cases, especially when fingering flow occurs. It is well known that subsurface fluid flow is coupled with mechanical deformation of subsurface media; in some applications, this coupling can play a dominant role. The continuum-scale elastic deformation of natural rock, however, does not always follow the traditional form of Hooke’s law.

The book also presents applications of the proposed generalizations of the physical laws to several important engineering projects.

Hui-Hai Liu is a Lead Researcher in Aramco Research Center in Houston.  Before joining Aramco in 2014, he had been with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in different scientific and managerial roles for 17 years, including chairing its hydrogeology department from 2009 to 2013. Hui-Hai has 30 year’s R&D experience in the areas of vadose zone hydrology, subsurface fluid flow, hydro-mechanical processes, and their applications to groundwater contamination, disposal of high-level nuclear waste, CO2 geological sequestration, and unconventional reservoirs. His major scientific contributions include the generalization of Darcy-Buckingham law to incorporate gravitational fingering flow based on the optimality principle, and the development of the two-part Hooke’s model (TPHM) for rock deformation by modifying Hooke’s law. His work has been documented in 150+ journal papers, 40+ issued US patents, numerous government research reports, and a research monograph entitled “Fluid flow in the subsurface: History, generalization and application of physical laws”. Hui-Hai is a Distinguished Member of Society of Petroleum Engineer, Fellow of Geological Society of America, and has received awards from different earth science and engineering organizations, including Truog Soil Science Outstanding Dissertation Award from SSSA and Director’s Exceptional Achievement Award from LBNL. He holds a Ph.D. degree in soil physics from Auburn University.