Effect of lateral heat losses on the stability of thermal displacement fronts in porous media

✍ Scribed by Y. C. Yortsos

• Publisher: American Institute of Chemical Engineers
• Year: 1982
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 641 KB
• Volume: 28
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0001-1541
• DOI: 10.1002/aic.690280317

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that heat transport by horizontal conduction in thermal displacement processes in porous media has a stabilizing effect on condensation fronts. This paper expands the stability analysis by also including the description of heat transfer lateral heat losses by conjungate (vertical) conduction. A marginal stability condition is derived in terms of a parameter Λ representing the relative magnitude of heat transfer by conjugate conduction. It is shown that lateral heat losses ask a significant stabilizing effect on the front. This effect should be important in thermal oil recovery processes such as steam injection and in‐situ combustion.