Automatic time stepping with Newton-Raphson method for two-phase fluid flow in porous media

Abstract In this paper, we present a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model to perform single- and two-phase fluid flow simulation on two- and three-dimensional perforated porous media with different perforation geometries. The finite volume method (FVM) has been employed to solve the equations governing the fluid flow through the porous media and obtain the pressure and velocity profiles. The volume of fluid (VOF) method has also been utilized for accurate determination of the volume occupied by each phase. The validity of the model has been achieved via comparing the simulation results with the available experimental data in the literature. The model was used to analyze the effect of perforation geometrical parameters (length and diameter), degree of heterogeneity, and also crushed zone properties (permeability and thickness) on the pressure and velocity profiles. The two-phase fluid flow around the perforation tunnel under the transient flow regime was also investigated by considering a constant mass flow boundary condition at the inlet. The developed model successfully predicted the pressure drop and resultant temperature changes for the system of air–water along clean and gravel-filled perforations under the steady-state conditions. The presented model in this study can be used as an efficient tool to design the most appropriate perforation strategy with respect to the well characteristics and reservoir properties.

Download Full-text

Transport Modelling of Multi-Phase Fluid Flow in Porous Media for Enhanced Oil Recovery

Defect and Diffusion Forum ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/ddf.400.38 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 400 ◽

pp. 38-44

Author(s):

Hassan Soleimani ◽

Hassan Ali ◽

Noorhana Yahya ◽

Beh Hoe Guan ◽

Maziyar Sabet ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Porous Media ◽

Fluid Flow ◽

Capillary Pressure ◽

Oil Recovery ◽

Constitutive Relations ◽

Mobility Control ◽

Flow In Porous Media ◽

Wettability Alteration ◽

Adsorption Effect ◽

Phase Fluid

This article studies the combined effect of spatial heterogeneity and capillary pressure on the saturation of two fluids during the injection of immiscible nanoparticles. Various literature review exhibited that the nanoparticles are helpful in enhancing the oil recovery by varying several mechanisms, like wettability alteration, interfacial tension, disjoining pressure and mobility control. Multiphase modelling of fluids in porous media comprise balance equation formulation, and constitutive relations for both interphase mass transfer and pressure saturation curves. A classical equation of advection-dispersion is normally used to simulate the fluid flow in porous media, but this equation is unable to simulate nanoparticles flow due to the adsorption effect which happens. Several modifications on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) have been made to increase the number of unknown variables. The simulation results indicated the successful transportation of nanoparticles in two phase fluid flow in porous medium which helps in decreasing the wettability of rocks and hence increasing the oil recovery. The saturation, permeability and capillary pressure curves show that the wettability of the rocks increases with the increasing saturation of wetting phase (brine).

Download Full-text

The Impact of Pore Size and Pore Connectivity on Single-Phase Fluid Flow in Porous Media

Advanced Engineering Materials ◽

10.1002/adem.201000255 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 13 (3) ◽

pp. 208-215 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Zeyun Jiang ◽

Kejian Wu ◽

Gary D. Couples ◽

Jingsheng Ma

Keyword(s):

Porous Media ◽

Fluid Flow ◽

Pore Size ◽

Single Phase ◽

Flow In Porous Media ◽

Pore Connectivity ◽

The Impact ◽

Phase Fluid

Download Full-text

Fabrication of a Microchannel Device With a Three-Dimensional Pore Network Using a Sacrificial Sugar Template

Volume 3: Computational Fluid Dynamics; Micro and Nano Fluid Dynamics ◽

10.1115/fedsm2020-20356 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Haipeng Zhang ◽

Tomer Palmon ◽

Seunghee Kim ◽

Sangjin Ryu

Keyword(s):

Porous Media ◽

Fluid Flow ◽

Pore Structure ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Pore Network ◽

Compressed Air ◽

Microfluidic Channels ◽

Two Phase ◽

Flow Through ◽

Phase Fluid

Abstract Porous media compressed air energy storage (PM-CAES) is an emerging technology that stores compressed air in an underground aquifer during the off-peak periods, to mitigate the mismatch between energy supplies and demands. Thus, PM-CAES involves repeated two-phase fluid flow in porous media, and ensuring the success of PM-CAES requires a better understanding of repetitive two-phase fluid flow through porous media. For this purpose, we previously developed microfluidic channels that retain a two-dimensional (2D) pore network. Because it was found that the geometry of the pore structure significantly affects the patterns and occupational efficiencies of a non-wetting fluid during the drainage-imbibition cycles, a more realistic microfluidic model is needed to reflect the three-dimensional (3D) nature of pore structures in the underground geologic formation. In this study, we developed an easy-to-adopt method to fabricate a microfluidic device with a 3D random pore network using a sacrificial sugar template. Instead of using a master mold made in photolithography, a sacrificial mold was made using sugar grains so that the mold could be washed away after PDMS curing. First, we made sugar templates with different levels of compaction load, and found that the thickness of the templates decreased as the compaction load increased, which suggests more packing of sugar grains and thus lower porosity in the template. Second, we fabricated PDMS porous media using the sugar template as a mold, and imaged their pore structure using micro computed tomography (micro-CT). Pores within PDSM samples appeared more tightly packed as the compacting force increased. Last, we fabricated a prototype PDMS channel device with a 3D pore network using a sugar template, and visualized flow through the pore network using colored water. The flow visualization result shows that the water was guided by the random pores and that the resultant flow pattern was three dimensional.

Download Full-text

Two-phase gravity currents in porous media

Journal of Fluid Mechanics ◽

10.1017/jfm.2011.110 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 678 ◽

pp. 248-270 ◽

Cited By ~ 55

Author(s):

MADELEINE J. GOLDING ◽

JEROME A. NEUFELD ◽

MARC A. HESSE ◽

HERBERT E. HUPPERT

Keyword(s):

Porous Medium ◽

Porous Media ◽

Fluid Flow ◽

Current Model ◽

Gravity Current ◽

Capillary Forces ◽

Gravity Currents ◽

Flow In Porous Media ◽

Two Phase ◽

Residual Trapping

We develop a model describing the buoyancy-driven propagation of two-phase gravity currents, motivated by problems in groundwater hydrology and geological storage of carbon dioxide (CO2). In these settings, fluid invades a porous medium saturated with an immiscible second fluid of different density and viscosity. The action of capillary forces in the porous medium results in spatial variations of the saturation of the two fluids. Here, we consider the propagation of fluid in a semi-infinite porous medium across a horizontal, impermeable boundary. In such systems, once the aspect ratio is large, fluid flow is mainly horizontal and the local saturation is determined by the vertical balance between capillary and gravitational forces. Gradients in the hydrostatic pressure along the current drive fluid flow in proportion to the saturation-dependent relative permeabilities, thus determining the shape and dynamics of two-phase currents. The resulting two-phase gravity current model is attractive because the formalism captures the essential macroscopic physics of multiphase flow in porous media. Residual trapping of CO2 by capillary forces is one of the key mechanisms that can permanently immobilize CO2 in the societally important example of geological CO2 sequestration. The magnitude of residual trapping is set by the areal extent and saturation distribution within the current, both of which are predicted by the two-phase gravity current model. Hence the magnitude of residual trapping during the post-injection buoyant rise of CO2 can be estimated quantitatively. We show that residual trapping increases in the presence of a capillary fringe, despite the decrease in average saturation.

Download Full-text