Gas and solute diffusion in partially saturated porous media: Percolation theory and Effective Medium Approximation compared with lattice Boltzmann simulations

Understanding and accurate prediction of gas or liquid phase (solute) diffusion are essential to accurate prediction of contaminant transport in partially saturated porous media. In this study, we propose analytical equations, using concepts from percolation theory and the Effective Medium Approximation (EMA) to model the saturation dependence of both gas and solute diffusion in porous media. The predictions of our theoretical approach agree well with the results of nine lattice Boltzmann simulations. We find that the universal quadratic scaling predicted by percolation theory, combined with the universal linear scaling predicted by the EMA, describes diffusion in porous media with both relatively broad and extremely narrow pore size distributions.