Computer system for digitally simulating multi-scale fluid flows in a computer-aided design model

A method for digitally simulating a multi-scale fluid flow in a three-dimensional computer-aided design (CAD) model of a simulation space, the method comprising:

• reading, by a data processing system from a hardware storage device, a digital representation of a porous medium based on a digital three-dimensional CAD model, the digital representation including a mesh comprising a plurality of voxels;
• digitally simulating, by the data processing system, movement of a fluid interface through the mesh representing the porous medium, the fluid interface representing a separation between a first fluid and a second fluid;
• and
• digitally simulating, by the data processing system, one or more residual amounts of the first fluid and the second fluid in one or more pore structures in the porous medium by:
• determining, by the data processing system, a first capillary pressure and a second capillary pressure for the porous medium;
• determining, by the data processing system, one or more values for one or more voxels in the mesh representing one or more locations in the porous medium associated with the one or more pore structures, the one or more values being based on the first and second capillary pressures and one or more porosity values for the one or more locations in the porous medium associated with the one or more pore structures;
• and
• determining, by the data processing system, the one or more residual amounts of the first fluid and the second fluid at the one or more voxels based on the one or more values.

One or more non-transitory machine-readable storage devices storing instructions for digitally simulating a multi-scale fluid flow in a three-dimensional computer-aided design (CAD) model of a simulation space, the instructions being executable by one or more processors, to cause performance of operations comprising:

• reading, from a hardware storage device, a digital representation of a porous medium based on a digital three-dimensional CAD model, the digital representation including a mesh comprising a plurality of voxels;
• digitally simulating movement of a fluid interface through the mesh representing the porous medium, the fluid interface representing a separation between a first fluid and a second fluid;
• and
• digitally simulating one or more residual amounts of the first fluid and the second fluid in one or more pore structures in the porous medium by:
• determining a first capillary pressure and a second capillary pressure for the porous medium;
• determining one or more values for one or more voxels in the mesh representing one or more locations in the porous medium associated with the one or more pore structures, the one or more values being based on the first and second capillary pressures and one or more porosity values for the one or more locations in the porous medium associated with the one or more pore structures;
• and
• determining the one or more residual amounts of the first fluid and the second fluid at the one or more voxels based on the one or more values.