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ACRi -- Analytic & Computational Research, Inc.

 

 

 

PORFLOW

The new version of PORFLOW - #1 choice of simulation software among consultants and researchers alike in the Ground Water Flow and Nuclear Waste Management fields - is here. On top of the many stability and versatility features built into the solver, PORFLOW comes bundled with CFDStudio™, the integrated development environment for CFD applications.

Among the many other new features are:

  • Gridless Computing (2D only, 3D under development).(*)
  • Support extended to Hybrid elements such as prisms, pyramids, tetrahedra as well as hexahedra (3D); triangles as well as quads (2D). Any combination of elements are acceptable.(*)
  • Adaptive Gridding / Auto Refinement at runtime based on certain runtime criteria.(*)
  • If-then-else type of conditional statements.
  • Better matrix solution control.
  • Computational improvements for better interpolation of values at faces.
  • Many other improvements... See New Features Sheet for a detailed list.

(*) These features may have an additional cost, depending on your licensing agreement.

Click on this link or the link on left to request an evaluation copy of PORFLOW.

So what is PORFLOW? What can you do with it?

PORFLOW is a comprehensive CFD tool developed by Analytic & Computational Research, Inc., ACRi, to accurately solve problems involving transient or steady state fluid flow, heat, salinity and mass transport in multi-phase, variably saturated, porous or fractured media with dynamic phase change. The porous/fractured media may be anisotropic and heterogeneous, arbitrary sources (injection or pumping wells) may be present and, chemical reactions or radioactive decay may take place. It accommodates alternate fluid and media property relations and complex and arbitrary boundary conditions. The geometry may be 2D or 3D, Cartesian or Cylindrical and the mesh may be structured or unstructured, giving maximum flexibility to the user.

In a nutshell, PORFLOW is developed specifically for professionals in the Ground Water Simulation and Nuclear Waste Management fields. This is a very interesting sub-section of CFD, in the sense that we are dealing with fluid flow through pores, fractures and cracks of a solid body, while calculating the heat transfer from fluid to solid (or vice versa) if needed.

Although it is a very specific field, PORFLOW holds a very strong share in the market. Some high profile users along with the projects that they use PORFLOW in are listed in the Partial List of PORFLOW Users. Among past and present users, Yucca Mountain Project, ANDRA, AECL and Golder and Associates come to mind right away.

Physical Models Built into PORFLOW and Detailed Capabilities:

  • Transient or Steady state, Compressible or Incompressible, Saturated, Vadose, Free Surface, or Multi-phase flow in a Single Unified Software Tool.
  • Inhomogeneous, Anisotropic Porous Medium with Discrete Fractures
  • One, Two or Three Flow Phases
    • Liquid or Gas (e.g. Water or Air)
    • Liquid and Gas (e.g. Water and Air)
    • Solid and Liquid (e.g. Ice-Water)
    • Liquid, Liquid and Gas (e.g. Water + Oil + Air)
  • Integrated Thermal Transport
  • Integrated Salinity Transport
  • Mass Transport with Unlimited number of User-defined Species
  • Variety of Reaction Mechanisms
    • Half Life Decay
    • Constant reaction rate
    • Chain Decay with Regeneration
    • Multi-step 1st, 2nd, or 3rd order Arrhenius
    • Unrestricted Regeneration
    • Distribution & Retardation (Kd/Rd) Coefficients
  • Arbitrary 1st, 2nd or 3rd order Arrhenius Kinetics with or without turbulent limiting
  • Arbitrary number of User-Defined Transport Equations and Variables
  • Field Variables, Sources, Boundary Conditions and Fluid/Matrix Properties functions of space, time, phase or user-defined variables by powerful functions which include:
    • Arbitrary Tabulated, Stepwise or Linear, Periodic or Non-Periodic Functions
    • Polynomial, Power Law, Exponential, Sinusoidal or Logarithmic Functions
    • Powerful Analytic Series Functions
    • Arbitrary User-Defined functions
  • Sources: Direct, Mass Injection, Solubility Limited, Radiation or Arrhenius Kinetics
    • Sources that are functions of surface area or volume
    • Functions of time, space or any dependent or user-defined variable
    • Any number and mix of sources for any variable
  • Boundary Conditions: Dirichlet, Neumann, Radiation and other derived types
  • Sub-models for many other physical phenomena.
  • Choice of Numerical methods and Matrix Solvers.

A brief History...

During the past 25 years, PORFLOW™ has evolved from a simple mathematical model for flow and heat transfer into a comprehensive software tool for analysis of a wide range of environmental applications in flow, heat and mass transport in geologic media. It provides for coupled transport of flow, heat and multiple chemical species in complex three-dimensional geometry, transient or steady-state flow, confined or unconfined aquifers, fully or partially saturated media, single or multiple phase systems, and phase change between liquid and solid and liquid and gaseous phases. It has grown from a simple computer code with few modules and fewer options to a software package with well over 300 modules and a versatile set of options that can accommodate almost any user requirements.

PORFLOW™ has been used to analyze problems as diverse as salinity intrusion into fresh water aquifers and remediation of hazardous waste sites. It has been used to evaluate pumping of an aquifer over a period of days, remediation of waste sites over a period of years, corrosion of waste canisters over tens of years, and transport of contaminants from nuclear waste over a time span of hundreds of thousands of years.

In the process, PORFLOW has evolved with the user's needs. At every stage, the flexibility and generality of the software were maintained while options were added to address user requirements. As a result, today PORFLOW provides a flexible format that is bound neither to a specific algorithm, nor to a particular methodology. Rather, it provides a framework that facilitates experimentation. The user can change numerical schemes, solution method, matrix inversion algorithms, or any of the physical or mathematical features.

Of all features of PORFLOW, two deserve special mention: generality of applications over a diverse range of problems, and ease of use provided by the conversational FREEFORM™ command language. These have enabled PORFLOW to emerge as leading software in its field of application.

PORFLOW is also distinguished from other computer models by the diversity of its users. Commercial, research and educational organizations in 15 countries are using the software. Among its users are: U.S. DOE, USGS, U.S.NRC, U.S.Army, Southwest Research Institute, Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Savannah River Laboratory, Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory, ANDRA (France), SCK-CEN (Belgium), AECL (Canada), Westinghouse, Lockheed Martin, Fluor Daniel, Rockwell, and a large number of other commercial organizations. Over 100 publications and project reports on the benchmarking, verification and application of PORFLOW are currently available.

PORFLOW has been extensively peer-reviewed. Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Battelle Pacific Northwest, and Prof. Allan Freeze of the University of British Columbia have formmaly reviewed PORFLOW or its derivatives. Additionally, it has been reviewed by ANDRA (France), BAe-SEMA (UK), British Petroleum (UK), Exxon Production Research, Failure Analysis Associates Inc., Fluor Daniel Inc., Gaz de France (France), SAIC, Shell Oil, SOHIO, and Westinghouse Hanford Company.

 

Related Links:

PORFLOW Applications
PORFLOW Express
PORFLOW Publications
PORFLOW Users
PORFLOW Price List
Request PORFLOW Demo
# PORFLOW Tutorials
PORFLOW Manual
PORFLOW Validation Report

 

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