Numerical homogenization of electrokinetic equations in porous media using lattice-Boltzmann simulations

Abstract

We report the calculation of all the transfer coefficients which couple the solvent and ionic fluxes through a charged pore under the effect of pressure, electrostatic potential, and concentration gradients. We use a combination of analytical calculations at the Poisson-Nernst-Planck and Navier-Stokes levels of description and mesoscopic lattice simulations based on kinetic theory. In the absence of added salt, i.e., when the only ions present in the fluid are the counterions compensating the charge of the surface, exact analytical expressions for the fluxes in cylindrical pores allow us to validate a new lattice-Boltzmann electrokinetics (LBE) scheme which accounts for the osmotic contribution to the transport of all species. The influence of simulation parameters on the numerical accuracy is thoroughly investigated. In the presence of an added salt, we assess the range of validity of approximate expressions of the fluxes computed from the linearized Poisson-Boltzmann equation by a systematic comparison with LBE simulations.