NETWORK MODELS FOR TWO-PHASE FLOW IN POROUS MEDIA. PART 1. IMMISCIBLE MICRODISPLACEMENT OF NON-WETTING FLUIDS.

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 1986

Authors

Dias Madalena, M (Author) FEUP; Payatakes Alkiviades, C (Author) Other

Journal

Title: Journal of Fluid Mechanics

Vol. 164

Pages: 305-336

ISSN: 0022-1120

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge

Scopus - 175 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-008-P4G

Abstract (EN): A theoretical simulator of immiscible displacement of a non-wetting fluid by a wetting one in a random porous medium is developed. The porous medium is modelled as a network of randomly sized unit cells of the constricted-tube type. Under creeping-flow conditions the problem is reduced to a system of linear equations, the solution of which gives the instantaneous pressures at the nodes and the corresponding flowrates through the unit cells. The pattern and rate of the displacement are obtained by assuming quasi-static flow and taking small time increments. The effects of the capillary number, Ca, and the viscosity ratio, kappa , are studied. The results confirm the importance of the capillary number for displacement, but they also show that for moderate and high Ca values the role of the viscosity ratio is pivotal. In addition to the residual saturation of the non-wetting fluid, the simulator predicts the time required for the displacement, the pattern of the transition zone, the size distribution of the entrapped ganglia, and the acceptance fraction as functions of Ca, kappa , and the porous-medium geometry.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific