scholarly journals Wettability control on multiphase flow in patterned microfluidics

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (37) ◽  
pp. 10251-10256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benzhong Zhao ◽  
Christopher W. MacMinn ◽  
Ruben Juanes
Keyword(s):  
Porous Media ◽  
Multiphase Flow ◽  
Contact Angles ◽  
Flow In Porous Media ◽  
Wetting Transition ◽  
Pore Scale ◽  
Displacement Efficiency ◽  
Pore Filling ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Impact

Multiphase flow in porous media is important in many natural and industrial processes, including geologic CO2 sequestration, enhanced oil recovery, and water infiltration into soil. Although it is well known that the wetting properties of porous media can vary drastically depending on the type of media and pore fluids, the effect of wettability on multiphase flow continues to challenge our microscopic and macroscopic descriptions. Here, we study the impact of wettability on viscously unfavorable fluid–fluid displacement in disordered media by means of high-resolution imaging in microfluidic flow cells patterned with vertical posts. By systematically varying the wettability of the flow cell over a wide range of contact angles, we find that increasing the substrate’s affinity to the invading fluid results in more efficient displacement of the defending fluid up to a critical wetting transition, beyond which the trend is reversed. We identify the pore-scale mechanisms—cooperative pore filling (increasing displacement efficiency) and corner flow (decreasing displacement efficiency)—responsible for this macroscale behavior, and show that they rely on the inherent 3D nature of interfacial flows, even in quasi-2D media. Our results demonstrate the powerful control of wettability on multiphase flow in porous media, and show that the markedly different invasion protocols that emerge—from pore filling to postbridging—are determined by physical mechanisms that are missing from current pore-scale and continuum-scale descriptions.

scholarly journals Effect of the Pore Size Distribution on the Displacement Efficiency of Multiphase Flow in Porous Media

Open Physics ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 610-616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongfei Yang ◽  
Pengfei Liu ◽  
Wenjie Zhang ◽  
Zhihui Liu ◽  
Hai Sun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Porous Media ◽  
Multiphase Flow ◽  
Pore Size Distribution ◽  
Pore Size ◽  
Size Distribution ◽  
Power Law ◽  
Flow In Porous Media ◽  
Displacement Efficiency ◽  
Truncated Normal ◽  
The Impact

AbstractDue to the complexity of porous media, it is difficult to use traditional experimental methods to study the quantitative impact of the pore size distribution on multiphase flow. In this paper, the impact of two pore distribution function types for three-phase flow was quantitatively investigated based on a three-dimensional pore-scale network model. The results show that in the process of wetting phase displacing the non-wetting phase without wetting films or spreading layers, the displacement efficiency was enhanced with the increase of the two function distribution’s parameters, which are the power law exponent in the power law distribution and the average pore radius or standard deviation in the truncated normal distribution, and vice versa. Additionally, the formation of wetting film is better for the process of displacement.

Quantifying the Dynamics of Water-CO2 Multiphase Flow in Microfluidic Porous Media Using High-Speed Micro-PIV

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaofa Li ◽  
Gianluca Blois ◽  
Farzan Kazemifar ◽  
Kenneth T. Christensen
Keyword(s):  
Porous Media ◽  
Multiphase Flow ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Flow In Porous Media ◽  
Low Flow ◽  
Scale Model ◽  
Pore Scale ◽  
Micro Piv ◽  
Liquid Co2 ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Multiphase flow in porous media is central to a large range of applications in the energy and environmental sectors, such as enhanced oil recovery, groundwater remediation, and geologic CO2 storage and sequestration (CCS). Herein we present an experimental study of pore-scale flow dynamics of liquid CO2 and water in two-dimensional (2D) heterogeneous porous micromodels employing high-speed microscopic particle image velocimetry (micro-PIV). This novel technique allowed us to spatially and temporally resolve the dynamics of multiphase flow of CO2 and water under reservoir-relevant conditions for varying wettabilities and thus to evaluate the impact of wettability on the observed physics and dynamics. The preliminary results show that multiphase flow of liquid CO2 and water in hydrophilic micromodels is strongly dominated by successive pore-scale burst events, resulting in velocities of two orders of magnitude larger than the bulk velocity. When the surface wettability was altered such that imbibtion takes place, capillarity and instability are significantly suppressed, leading to more compact and axi-symmetric displacement of water by liquid CO2 with generally low flow velocities. To our knowledge, this work represents the first of its kind, and will be useful for advancing our fundamental understanding and facilitating pore-scale model development and validation.

Modeling Unstable Flow Dynamics in Porous Media Associated With CO2 Sequestration

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir Riaz ◽  
Yildiray Cinar ◽  
Hamdi Tchelepi
Keyword(s):  
Porous Media ◽  
Multiphase Flow ◽  
Co2 Sequestration ◽  
Flow Behavior ◽  
Flow In Porous Media ◽  
Unstable Flow ◽  
Fundamental Physics ◽  
Macroscopic Models ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Vertical Glass

Multiphase flow in porous media is fundamentally a microscopic process that governs the behavior of geologic scale processes. The application of existing (standard) macroscopic models to problems of geologic scale multiphase flow has proved to be unsatisfactory within a wide range of governing parameters. Our objective is to develop the missing link between the fundamental physics of multiphase flow at the pore-scale and the phenomenological representation of dynamic behaviors across a hierarchy of geologic scales. An essential prerequisite to such an analysis is a qualitative understanding of the flow behavior in terms of flow structures that exist for various parameter combination within the regime of CO2 sequestration. An experimental study addressing these objectives is presented. Experiments are carried out at the laboratory scale in a vertical glass-bead pack, in the parameter range of sequestration flows. Experimental results are interpreted with the help of invasion percolation models.

scholarly journals Comprehensive comparison of pore-scale models for multiphase flow in porous media

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (28) ◽  
pp. 13799-13806 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benzhong Zhao ◽  
Christopher W. MacMinn ◽  
Bauyrzhan K. Primkulov ◽  
Yu Chen ◽  
Albert J. Valocchi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Porous Media ◽  
Multiphase Flows ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Network Models ◽  
Industrial Applications ◽  
Flow In Porous Media ◽  
Pore Scale ◽  
Displacement Efficiency ◽  
Scale Models ◽  
Comprehensive Comparison

Multiphase flows in porous media are important in many natural and industrial processes. Pore-scale models for multiphase flows have seen rapid development in recent years and are becoming increasingly useful as predictive tools in both academic and industrial applications. However, quantitative comparisons between different pore-scale models, and between these models and experimental data, are lacking. Here, we perform an objective comparison of a variety of state-of-the-art pore-scale models, including lattice Boltzmann, stochastic rotation dynamics, volume-of-fluid, level-set, phase-field, and pore-network models. As the basis for this comparison, we use a dataset from recent microfluidic experiments with precisely controlled pore geometry and wettability conditions, which offers an unprecedented benchmarking opportunity. We compare the results of the 14 participating teams both qualitatively and quantitatively using several standard metrics, such as fractal dimension, finger width, and displacement efficiency. We find that no single method excels across all conditions and that thin films and corner flow present substantial modeling and computational challenges.

Pore-scale characteristics of multiphase flow in porous media: A comparison of air–water and oil–water experiments

2006 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
K.A. Culligan ◽  
D. Wildenschild ◽  
B.S.B. Christensen ◽  
W.G. Gray ◽  
M.L. Rivers
Keyword(s):  
Porous Media ◽  
Multiphase Flow ◽  
Flow In Porous Media ◽  
Pore Scale ◽  
Scale Characteristics ◽  
Oil Water

scholarly journals A comprehensive review of pore scale modeling methodologies for multiphase flow in porous media

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 418-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir Golparvar ◽  
Yingfang Zhou ◽  
Kejian Wu ◽  
Jingsheng Ma ◽  
Zhixin Yu
Keyword(s):  
Porous Media ◽  
Multiphase Flow ◽  
Flow In Porous Media ◽  
Pore Scale ◽  
Comprehensive Review ◽  
Scale Modeling ◽  
Pore Scale Modeling

scholarly journals Droplet fragmentation: 3D imaging of a previously unidentified pore-scale process during multiphase flow in porous media

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (7) ◽  
pp. 1947-1952 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tannaz Pak ◽  
Ian B. Butler ◽  
Sebastian Geiger ◽  
Marinus I. J. van Dijke ◽  
Ken S. Sorbie
Keyword(s):  
Porous Media ◽  
Multiphase Flow ◽  
Flow In Porous Media ◽  
Pore Scale ◽  
Capillary Trapping ◽  
Phase Cluster ◽  
Computed Microtomography ◽  
X Ray Computed ◽  
Capillary Desaturation ◽  
Droplet Fragmentation

Using X-ray computed microtomography, we have visualized and quantified the in situ structure of a trapped nonwetting phase (oil) in a highly heterogeneous carbonate rock after injecting a wetting phase (brine) at low and high capillary numbers. We imaged the process of capillary desaturation in 3D and demonstrated its impacts on the trapped nonwetting phase cluster size distribution. We have identified a previously unidentified pore-scale event during capillary desaturation. This pore-scale event, described as droplet fragmentation of the nonwetting phase, occurs in larger pores. It increases volumetric production of the nonwetting phase after capillary trapping and enlarges the fluid−fluid interface, which can enhance mass transfer between the phases. Droplet fragmentation therefore has implications for a range of multiphase flow processes in natural and engineered porous media with complex heterogeneous pore spaces.

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