Flow Between Two Sites on a Percolation Cluster

Abstract

We study the flow of fluid in porous media in dimensions $d=2$ and 3. The medium is modeled by bond percolation on a lattice of $L^d$ sites, while the flow front is modeled by tracer particles driven by a pressure difference between two fixed sites (``wells'') separated by Euclidean distance $r$. We investigate the distribution function of the shortest path connecting the two sites, and propose a scaling {\it Ansatz} that accounts for the dependence of this distribution (i) on the size of the system, $L$, and (ii) on the bond occupancy probability, $p$. We confirm by extensive simulations that the {\it Ansatz} holds for $d=2$ and 3, and calculate the relevant scaling parameters. We also study two dynamical quantities: the minimal traveling time of a tracer particle between the wells and the length of the path corresponding to the minimal traveling time ``fastest path'', which is not identical to the shortest path. A scaling {\it Ansatz} for these dynamical quantities also includes the effect of finite system size $L$ and off-critical bond occupation probability $p$. We find that the scaling form for the distribution functions for these dynamical quantities for $d=2$ and 3 is similar to that for the shortest path but with different critical exponents. The scaling form is represented as the product of a power law and three exponential cutoff functions. We summarize our results in a table which contains estimates for all parameters which characterize the scaling form for the shortest path and the minimal traveling time in 2 and 3 dimensions; these parameters are the fractal dimension, the power law exponent, and the constants and exponents that characterize the exponential cutoff functions.