Measurement of Interfacial Area Production and Permeability Within Porous Media

An understanding of the pore-level interactions that affect multi-phase flow in porous media is important in many subsurface engineering applications, including enhanced oil recovery, remediation of dense non-aqueous liquid contaminated sites, and geologic CO2 sequestration. Standard models of two-phase flow in porous media have been shown to have several shortcomings, which might partially be overcome using a recently developed model based on thermodynamic principles that includes interfacial area as an additional parameter. A few static experimental studies have been previously performed, which allowed the determination of static parameters of the model, but no information exists concerning the interfacial area dynamic parameters. A new experimental porous flow cell that was constructed using stereolithography for two-phase gas-liquid flow studies was used in conjunction with an in-house analysis code to provide information on dynamic evolution of both fluid phases and gas-liquid interfaces. In this paper, we give a brief introduction to the new generalized model of two-phase flow model and describe how the stereolithography flow cell experimental setup was used to obtain the dynamic parameters for the interfacial area numerical model. In particular, the methods used to determine the interfacial area permeability and production terms are shown.

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Modeling Two-Phase Flow in Porous Media Including Fluid-Fluid Interfacial Area

Volume 12: Mechanics of Solids, Structures and Fluids ◽

10.1115/imece2008-66098 ◽

2008 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Jennifer Niessner ◽

S. Majid Hassanizadeh ◽

Dustin Crandall

Keyword(s):

Porous Media ◽

Capillary Pressure ◽

Two Phase Flow ◽

Interfacial Area ◽

Flow In Porous Media ◽

Extended Model ◽

Phase Flow ◽

Two Phase ◽

Specific Interfacial Area ◽

Macro Scale

We present a new numerical model for macro-scale two-phase flow in porous media which is based on a physically consistent theory of multi-phase flow. The standard approach for modeling the flow of two fluid phases in a porous medium consists of a continuity equation for each phase, an extended form of Darcy’s law as well as constitutive relationships for relative permeability and capillary pressure. This approach is known to have a number of important shortcomings and, in particular, it does not account for the presence and role of fluid–fluid interfaces. An alternative is to use an extended model which is founded on thermodynamic principles and is physically consistent. In addition to the standard equations, the model uses a balance equation for specific interfacial area. The constitutive relationship for capillary pressure involves not only saturation, but also specific interfacial area. We show how parameters can be obtained for the alternative model using experimental data from a new kind of flow cell and present results of a numerical modeling study.

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Modeling Kinetic Interphase Mass Transfer for Two-Phase Flow in Porous Media Including Fluid–Fluid Interfacial Area

Transport in Porous Media ◽

10.1007/s11242-009-9358-5 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 80 (2) ◽

pp. 329-344 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Jennifer Niessner ◽

S. Majid Hassanizadeh

Keyword(s):

Mass Transfer ◽

Porous Media ◽

Two Phase Flow ◽

Interfacial Area ◽

Flow In Porous Media ◽

Phase Flow ◽

Two Phase ◽

Interphase Mass Transfer

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Non-equilibrium effects in capillarity and interfacial area in two-phase flow: dynamic pore-network modelling

Journal of Fluid Mechanics ◽

10.1017/s0022112010000704 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 655 ◽

pp. 38-71 ◽

Cited By ~ 154

Author(s):

V. JOEKAR-NIASAR ◽

S. M. HASSANIZADEH ◽

H. K. DAHLE

Keyword(s):

Porous Media ◽

Capillary Pressure ◽

Two Phase Flow ◽

Interfacial Area ◽

Pore Network ◽

Flow In Porous Media ◽

Phase Flow ◽

Two Phase ◽

Specific Interfacial Area ◽

Non Equilibrium

Current macroscopic theories of two-phase flow in porous media are based on the extended Darcy's law and an algebraic relationship between capillary pressure and saturation. Both of these equations have been challenged in recent years, primarily based on theoretical works using a thermodynamic approach, which have led to new governing equations for two-phase flow in porous media. In these equations, new terms appear related to the fluid–fluid interfacial area and non-equilibrium capillarity effects. Although there has been a growing number of experimental works aimed at investigating the new equations, a full study of their significance has been difficult as some quantities are hard to measure and experiments are costly and time-consuming. In this regard, pore-scale computational tools can play a valuable role. In this paper, we develop a new dynamic pore-network simulator for two-phase flow in porous media, called DYPOSIT. Using this tool, we investigate macroscopic relationships among average capillary pressure, average phase pressures, saturation and specific interfacial area. We provide evidence that at macroscale, average capillary pressure–saturation–interfacial area points fall on a single surface regardless of flow conditions and fluid properties. We demonstrate that the traditional capillary pressure–saturation relationship is not valid under dynamic conditions, as predicted by the theory. Instead, one has to employ the non-equilibrium capillary theory, according to which the fluids pressure difference is a function of the time rate of saturation change. We study the behaviour of non-equilibrium capillarity coefficient, specific interfacial area, and its production rate versus saturation and viscosity ratio.A major feature of our pore-network model is a new computational algorithm, which considers capillary diffusion. Pressure field is calculated for each fluid separately, and saturation is computed in a semi-implicit way. This provides more numerical stability, compared with previous models, especially for unfavourable viscosity ratios and small capillary number values.

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