Application of the Fractional Conservation of Mass to Gas Flow Diffusivity Equation in Heterogeneous Porous Media

In this paper we reconsider the classical nonlinear diffusivity equation of real gas in an heterogenous porous medium in light of the recent studies about the generalized fractional equation of conservation of mass. We first recall the physical meaning of the fractional conservation of mass recently studied by Wheatcraft and Meerschaert [22] and then consider the implications in the classical model of diffusion of a real gas in a porous medium. Then we show that the obtained equation can be simply linearized into a classical space-fractional diffusion equation, widely studied in the literature. We also consider the case of a powerlaw pressure-dependence of the permeability coefficient. In this case we provide some useful exact analytical results. In particular, we are able to find a Barenblatt-type solution for a space-fractional Boussinesq equation, arising in this context.