A comprehensive numerical study of immiscible and miscible viscous fingers during chemical enhanced oil recovery

Vishnudas, R.; Chaudhuri, Abhijit

doi:10.1016/j.fuel.2017.01.014

Cited by 29 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…By extending the model towards three dimensional systems based on the explicit description of disordered pore networks, conclusions extracted from this study can be applied to a variety of situations in realistic geological scenarios involving multiphase flow. The ability to predict the presence of residual fluid phase left behind a moving liquid front on the basis of topological properties is of value in optimising water injection processes towards improved oil recovery (Blunt et al, 2002;Vishnudas and Chaudhuri, 2017) and pollutant removal (Saba and Illangasekare, 2000). The observations of the present study further show how particle scale affects overall flow conditions, potentially facilitating improved formulation of the effective stress term in unsaturated soil mechanics (Gan et al, 2013;Likos, 2014;Xu and Xie, 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 66%

“…The formation of drainage fronts (i.e., the interfaces between wetting and non-wetting fluids) and displacement dynamics, shaped by the aforementioned properties, determine the residual liquid phase distribution in partially wetted porous media and affect the relative permeability of the correlated unsaturated regions (Auradou et al, 1999;Scherer et al, 2007). Recent experimental and numerical studies concerning drainage processes in porous media tend to focus mainly on the evolution of viscous fingering at various flow rates and flow velocity distributions along the continuous moving front (Alim et al, 2017;Holzner et al, 2015;Lenormand and Zarcone, 1989;Matyka et al, 2016;Vishnudas and Chaudhuri, 2017;Zhao et al, 2016). However, studies on the morphological characteristics of liquid phase entrapment behind the front remain relatively scarce.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dynamics of Viscous Entrapped Saturated Zones in Partially Wetted Porous Media

Liu

Hanaor

et al. 2018

Transp Porous Med

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As a typical multiphase fluid flow process, drainage in porous media is of fundamental interest in nature and industrial applications. During drainage processes in unsaturated soils and porous media in general, saturated clusters, in which a liquid phase fully occupies the pore space between solid grains, affect the relative permeability and effective stress of the system. In this study, we experimentally studied drainage processes in unsaturated granular media as a model porous system. The distribution of saturated clusters is analysed by an optical imaging method under different drainage conditions, in which pore-scale information from Voronoi and Delaunay tessellation was used to characterise the topology of saturated cluster distributions. By employing statistical analyses, the observed spatial and temporal information of multiphase flow and fluid entrapment in porous media are described. The results indicate that the distributions of both the crystallised cell size and pore size are positively correlated to the spatial and temporal distribution of saturated cluster sizes. The saturated cluster size is found to follow a lognormal distribution, in which the generalised Bond number ( * ) correlates negatively to the scale parameter ( ) and positively to the shape parameter ( ). These findings can be used to connect pore-scale behaviour with overall hydro-mechanical characteristics in partially saturated porous media, using both the degree of saturation and generalised Bond number.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 66%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamics of Viscous Entrapped Saturated Zones in Partially Wetted Porous Media

Liu

Hanaor

et al. 2018

Transp Porous Med

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“…Fluid-fluid immiscible displacements in porous media are important in many fields of industry, such as carbon dioxide storage, and oil recovery and soil infiltration (Berg & Ott 2012;Huppert & Neufeld 2014;Tsuji, Jiang & Christensen 2016;Odier et al 2017;Tran, Neogi & Bai 2017;Vishnudas & Chaudhuri 2017), and one major concern is to increase or decrease trapping of the defending fluid. The fluid invasion process is governed by the viscous force and the capillary force, which depends on flow rate, viscosity, interfacial tension, wettability and porous structure.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trapping patterns during capillary displacements in disordered media

Liu

Wang

2022

J. Fluid Mech.

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We investigate the impact of wettability distribution, pore size distribution and pore geometry on the statistical behaviour of trapping in pore-throat networks during capillary displacement. Through theoretical analyses and numerical simulations, we propose and prove that the trapping patterns, defined as the percentage and distribution of trapped elements, are determined by four dimensionless control parameters. The range of all possible trapping patterns and how the patterns are dependent on the four parameters are obtained. The results help us to understand the impact of wettability and structure on trapping behaviour in disordered media.

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“…The two-interface problems (stable-unstable or unstable-unstable ones) have applications in polymer flooding in the enhanced heavy oil recovery processes (Vishnudas & Chaudhuri 2017). Zhou, Dong & Maini (2013) performed experiments to understand the enhanced heavy oil recovery by chemical flooding through a rectilinear displacement process by conducting various chemical slug injections in a two-dimensional sand-packed cell.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%