A NUMERICAL STUDY ON FRACTAL DIMENSIONS OF CURRENT STREAMLINES IN TWO-DIMENSIONAL AND THREE-DIMENSIONAL PORE FRACTAL MODELS OF POROUS MEDIA

Abstract

The fractal dimension of random walker (FDRW) is an important parameter for description of electrical conductivity in porous media. However, it is somewhat empirical in nature to calculate FDRW. In this paper, a simple relation between FDRW and tortuosity fractal dimension (TFD) of current streamlines is derived, and a novel method of computing TFD for different generations of two-dimensional Sierpinski carpet and three-dimensional Sierpinski sponge models is presented through the finite element method, then the FDRW can be accordingly predicted; the proposed relation clearly shows that there exists a linear relation between pore fractal dimension (PFD) and TFD, which may have great potential in analysis of transport properties in fractal porous media.