Effects of particle size on characteristics of transportation and deposition of suspended particles in porous media

Particle size plays an important role in transportation and deposition of particles in porous media, especially in the WSHP engineering. The transportation-deposition characteristics of particles with different sizes in porous media with different sizes are studied by the self-developed sand transportation-deposition equipment. The studies show that when the size of porous media is fixed and the size of suspended particles increases, it needs more time to reach the peak of relative concentration, and at the same time, the corresponding peak value declines. Meanwhile, when the size of suspended particles is fixed and the size of porous media increases, the peak value of relative concentration also increases. Relative to the porous media, change in the size of suspended particles has more significant effects in the transportation-deposition process. In addition, the peak and final values of relative concentration increase when the diameter ratio of the porous media and suspended particles increases. Finally, according to the difference of diameter ratio, the model of transportation-deposition is divided into three types, i.e., filter cake mode, transportation-deposition mode and free transportation mode. The research lays a foundation for further studies on the transportation-deposition characteristics that suspended particles transport in layer, especially in the recharge process of WSHP.