Numerical assessment of Electrokinetic Barrier with coupled flow modeling approach

Conduction phenomenon refers to a combination of direct and coupled flow phenomena related to the transfer of liquids, chemicals, electrical current and heat through a porous medium considering the hydraulic, chemical, electrical and thermal gradients. A coupled (electro-osmosis) flow is a one-type flow, such as hydraulic, which is driven by a potential gradient and of another type, such as electric. In cases where there is a weak leakage flow due to the hydraulic gradient, by creating a coupled reverse flow due to electro-osmosis, it is possible to diminish the leakage flow (outflow) and create an electrokinetic barrier in the porous medium. In this study, this concept is investigated and defined by creating a hydraulic flow in the narrow standpipe of the cathode part of the cell and developing an electro-osmosis flow from the anode to the cathode to stop the hydraulic flow by an innovative electrokinetic device (to control hydro-electric coupled flows). The purpose of this study is to determine the equations and conditions governing the electrokinetic barrier process with a coupled flow modeling approach. For this purpose, to model the electro-kinetic barrier process inside the kaolinite soil under the electric field, the finite difference numerical solution method was used. After determining and combining the equations governing the electrokinetic barrier process, the desired equation was numerically solved by coding in Matlab software. Experimental results have been used to calibrate the model. According to the results, the proposed numerical model shows a good agreement with the experimental results. •Conduction phenomena refer to the combination of direct and coupled flow phenomena associated.•Conduction phenomena refer to with the transfer of liquids, chemicals, and heat through porous media thermal gradients.•Electroosmotic flow is created to overcome the hydraulic gradient.