Verification requires repeating experiments and the processing of experimental data, which is also costly, both in time and manpower. Computational studies can build intuition and can be employed in the design of the experiment as well as in studying the sensitivity of the controlled parameters. The lithology of a porous media can only be crudely approximated. Permeability and porosity data are generally obtained from studies of geological outcrops, core samples, pressure well tests, and various seismic studies. Here the collected data is at several length scales, namely, pore scale data arising from core samples to the coarse grain variation from geophysics.
Additional complexities arise from modeling chemical and biological processes.
Kinetic parameters derived in laboratory experiments are not always applicable to field scale reservoirs or aquifers. These simulations are computationally intensive and are presently being investigated by the Flow in Porous Media Advanced Computation Group that Wheeler heads. Mary Wheeler has worked on oil recovery projects with researchers from the petroleum industry and the Center for Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at the University of Texas. In addition she has collaborated with environmental scientists and engineers to model groundwater pollution migration and remediation at the Department of Energy Government Laboratories, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Batelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory.