Dynamic pore-scale modeling of residual fluid configurations in disordered porous media
Fluid trapping in porous media is important in many subsurface flow processes such as enhanced oil recovery and geological sequestration of carbon dioxide. To achieve optimal performance in such applications, a fundamental understanding of residual trapping mechanisms at the pore scale is necessary....
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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EDP Sciences
2023-01-01
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| Series: | E3S Web of Conferences |
| Online Access: | https://www.e3s-conferences.org/articles/e3sconf/pdf/2023/03/e3sconf_sca2023_01018.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797938450614190080 |
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| author | Gong Yanbin Sedghi Mohammad Piri Mohammad |
| author_facet | Gong Yanbin Sedghi Mohammad Piri Mohammad |
| author_sort | Gong Yanbin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Fluid trapping in porous media is important in many subsurface flow processes such as enhanced oil recovery and geological sequestration of carbon dioxide. To achieve optimal performance in such applications, a fundamental understanding of residual trapping mechanisms at the pore scale is necessary. In this work, we present a computational study of fluid trapping behaviors in natural porous media under different flow regimes by employing a dynamic pore-network modeling approach. The model incorporates many advanced features that have not been collectively used in previous dynamic platforms. For instance, it rigorously solves for fluid pressure fields from two-phase mass balance equations in each pore element, incorporates a detailed description of pore-scale fluid displacement dynamics of piston-like advance, snap-off, and pore-body filling, and explicitly accounts for flow through wetting layers forming in corners and rough surfaces of pore spaces. Moreover, we extend the ability of our model by including contact angle hysteresis, which is often neglected in existing dynamic models. A heavily-parallelized implementation of this platform is further advanced to achieve an efficient computational performance. We first conduct primary drainage and imbibition simulations in pore networks representing Bentheimer and Berea sandstones. We show that the predicted two-phase relative permeability curves agree well with their experimental counterparts reported in the literature. Afterwards, the validated model is used to systematically probe fluid trapping behaviors in a core-sized pore network that is constructed from high-resolution micro-computed tomography images of a Berea sandstone core sample. The effects of dynamic flow conditions and fluid properties on core-scale two-phase displacement pattern, residual-fluid configuration, and residual oil saturations are examined in detail. Fluid trapping properties such as maximum and average residual-fluid cluster size and capillary-controlled invasion selectivity at the pore scale are analyzed under both capillaryand viscous-dominated flow regimes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T18:59:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-304762a1ed794ddfbd4aa663c771a7dc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2267-1242 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T18:59:51Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | EDP Sciences |
| record_format | Article |
| series | E3S Web of Conferences |
| spelling | doaj.art-304762a1ed794ddfbd4aa663c771a7dc2023-01-31T09:55:53ZengEDP SciencesE3S Web of Conferences2267-12422023-01-013660101810.1051/e3sconf/202336601018e3sconf_sca2023_01018Dynamic pore-scale modeling of residual fluid configurations in disordered porous mediaGong Yanbin0Sedghi Mohammad1Piri Mohammad2Center of Innovation for Flow through Porous Media, Department of Petroleum Engineering, University of WyomingCenter of Innovation for Flow through Porous Media, Department of Petroleum Engineering, University of WyomingCenter of Innovation for Flow through Porous Media, Department of Petroleum Engineering, University of WyomingFluid trapping in porous media is important in many subsurface flow processes such as enhanced oil recovery and geological sequestration of carbon dioxide. To achieve optimal performance in such applications, a fundamental understanding of residual trapping mechanisms at the pore scale is necessary. In this work, we present a computational study of fluid trapping behaviors in natural porous media under different flow regimes by employing a dynamic pore-network modeling approach. The model incorporates many advanced features that have not been collectively used in previous dynamic platforms. For instance, it rigorously solves for fluid pressure fields from two-phase mass balance equations in each pore element, incorporates a detailed description of pore-scale fluid displacement dynamics of piston-like advance, snap-off, and pore-body filling, and explicitly accounts for flow through wetting layers forming in corners and rough surfaces of pore spaces. Moreover, we extend the ability of our model by including contact angle hysteresis, which is often neglected in existing dynamic models. A heavily-parallelized implementation of this platform is further advanced to achieve an efficient computational performance. We first conduct primary drainage and imbibition simulations in pore networks representing Bentheimer and Berea sandstones. We show that the predicted two-phase relative permeability curves agree well with their experimental counterparts reported in the literature. Afterwards, the validated model is used to systematically probe fluid trapping behaviors in a core-sized pore network that is constructed from high-resolution micro-computed tomography images of a Berea sandstone core sample. The effects of dynamic flow conditions and fluid properties on core-scale two-phase displacement pattern, residual-fluid configuration, and residual oil saturations are examined in detail. Fluid trapping properties such as maximum and average residual-fluid cluster size and capillary-controlled invasion selectivity at the pore scale are analyzed under both capillaryand viscous-dominated flow regimes.https://www.e3s-conferences.org/articles/e3sconf/pdf/2023/03/e3sconf_sca2023_01018.pdf |
| spellingShingle | Gong Yanbin Sedghi Mohammad Piri Mohammad Dynamic pore-scale modeling of residual fluid configurations in disordered porous media E3S Web of Conferences |
| title | Dynamic pore-scale modeling of residual fluid configurations in disordered porous media |
| title_full | Dynamic pore-scale modeling of residual fluid configurations in disordered porous media |
| title_fullStr | Dynamic pore-scale modeling of residual fluid configurations in disordered porous media |
| title_full_unstemmed | Dynamic pore-scale modeling of residual fluid configurations in disordered porous media |
| title_short | Dynamic pore-scale modeling of residual fluid configurations in disordered porous media |
| title_sort | dynamic pore scale modeling of residual fluid configurations in disordered porous media |
| url | https://www.e3s-conferences.org/articles/e3sconf/pdf/2023/03/e3sconf_sca2023_01018.pdf |
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