The impact of heterogeneity and pore network characteristics on single and multi-phase fluid propagation in complex porous media:An X-ray computed tomography study

This study investigates the impact of pore network characteristics on fluid flow through complex and heterogeneous porous media,providing insights into the factors affecting fluid propagation in such systems.Specifically,high-resolution or micro X-ray computed tomography(CT)imaging techniques were utilized to examine outcrop stromatolite samples of the Lagoa Salgada,considered flow analogous to the Brazilian Pre-salt carbonate reservoirs.The petrophysical results comprised two distinct stromatolite depositional facies,the columnar and the fine-grained facies.By generating pore network model(PNM),the study quantified the relationship between key features of the porous system,including pore and throat radius,throat length,coordination number,shape factor,and pore volume.The study found that the less dense pore network of the columnar sample is typically characterized by larger pores and wider and longer throats but with a weaker connection of throats to pores.Both facies exhibited less variability in the radius of the pores and throats in comparison to throat length.Additionally,a series of core flooding experiments coupled with medical CT scanning was designed and conducted in the plug samples to assess flow propagation and saturation fields.The study revealed that the heterogeneity and presence of disconnected or dead-end pores significantly impacted the flow patterns and saturation.Two-phase flow patterns and oil saturation distribution reveal a preferential and heterogeneous displacement that mainly swept displaced fluid in some regions of plugs and bypassed it in others.The relation between saturation profiles,porosity profiles,and the number of fluid flow patterns for the samples was evident.Only for the columnar plug sample was the enhancement in recovery factor after shifting to lower salinity water injection(SB)observed.

Modeling of multiphase flow in low permeability porous media:Effect of wettability and pore structure properties

Multiphase flow in low permeability porous media is involved in numerous energy and environmental applications.However,a complete description of this process is challenging due to the limited modeling scale and the effects of complex pore structures and wettability.To address this issue,based on the digital rock of low permeability sandstone,a direct numerical simulation is performed considering the interphase drag and boundary slip to clarify the microscopic water-oil displacement process.In addition,a dual-porosity pore network model(PNM)is constructed to obtain the water-oil relative permeability of the sample.The displacement efficiency as a recovery process is assessed under different wetting and pore structure properties.Results show that microscopic displacement mechanisms explain the corresponding macroscopic relative permeability.The injected water breaks through the outlet earlier with a large mass flow,while thick oil films exist in rough hydrophobic surfaces and poorly connected pores.The variation of water-oil relative permeability is significant,and residual oil saturation is high in the oil-wet system.The flooding is extensive,and the residual oil is trapped in complex pore networks for hydrophilic pore surfaces;thus,water relative permeability is lower in the water-wet system.While the displacement efficiency is the worst in mixed-wetting systems for poor water connectivity.Microporosity negatively correlates with invading oil volume fraction due to strong capillary resistance,and a large microporosity corresponds to low residual oil saturation.This work provides insights into the water-oil flow from different modeling perspectives and helps to optimize the development plan for enhanced recovery.

Prediction of Porous Media Fluid Flow with Spatial Heterogeneity Using Criss-Cross Physics-Informed Convolutional Neural Networks

Recent advances in deep neural networks have shed new light on physics,engineering,and scientific computing.Reconciling the data-centered viewpoint with physical simulation is one of the research hotspots.The physicsinformedneural network(PINN)is currently the most general framework,which is more popular due to theconvenience of constructing NNs and excellent generalization ability.The automatic differentiation(AD)-basedPINN model is suitable for the homogeneous scientific problem;however,it is unclear how AD can enforce fluxcontinuity across boundaries between cells of different properties where spatial heterogeneity is represented bygrid cells with different physical properties.In this work,we propose a criss-cross physics-informed convolutionalneural network(CC-PINN)learning architecture,aiming to learn the solution of parametric PDEs with spatialheterogeneity of physical properties.To achieve the seamless enforcement of flux continuity and integration ofphysicalmeaning into CNN,a predefined 2D convolutional layer is proposed to accurately express transmissibilitybetween adjacent cells.The efficacy of the proposedmethodwas evaluated through predictions of several petroleumreservoir problems with spatial heterogeneity and compared against state-of-the-art(PINN)through numericalanalysis as a benchmark,which demonstrated the superiority of the proposed method over the PINN.

Gas Condensate Two Phase Flow Performance in Porous Media Considering Capillary Number and Non-Darcy Effects

Retrograde condensation frequently occurs during the development of gas condensate reservoirs. The loss of productivity is often observed due to the reduced relative permeability to gas as condensate accumulates near the well bore region. How to describe the condensate blockage effect exactly has been a continuous research topic. However, up to now, the present methods usually over-estimate or underestimate the productivity reduction due to an incorrect understanding of the mechanism of flow in porous medium, which inevitably results in an inaccurate prediction of production performance. It has been found in recent numerous theoretical and experimental studies that capillary number and non-Darcy flow have significant influence on relative permeability in regions near the well bore. The two effects impose opposite impacts on production performance, thus leading to gas condensate flow showing characteristics different from general understanding. It is significant for prediction of performance in gas condensate wells to understand the two effects exactly. The aim of the paper is to describe and analyze the flow dynamics in porous media accurately during the production of gas condensate reservoirs. Based on the description of three-zone flow mechanism, capillary number and non-Darcy effect are incorporated in the analysis of relative permeability, making it possible to describe the effect of condensate blockage. The effect of capillary number and inertial flow on gas and condensate relative permeability is analyzed in detail. Novel Inflow Performance Relation (IPR) models considering high velocity effects are formulated and the contrast analysis of different IPR models is conducted. The result shows that the proposed method can help predict the production performance and productivity more accurately than conventional methods.

Numerical simulation of two-phase flow in fractured porous media using streamline simulation and IMPES methods and comparing results with a commercial software

Streamline simulation is developed to simulate waterflooding in fractured reservoirs. Conventional reservoir simulation methods for fluid flow simulation in large and complex reservoirs are very costly and time consuming. In streamline method, transport equations are solved on one-dimensional streamlines to reduce the computation time with less memory for simulation. First, pressure equation is solved on an Eulerian grid and streamlines are traced. Defining the "time of flight", saturation equations are mapped and solved on streamlines. Finally, the results are mapped back on Eulerian grid and the process is repeated until the simulation end time. The waterflooding process is considered in a fractured reservoir using the dual porosity model. Afterwards, a computational code is developed to solve the same problem by the IMPES method and the results of streamline simulation are compared to those of the IMPES and a commercial software. Finally, the accuracy and efficiency of streamline simulator for simulation of two-phase flow in fractured reservoirs has been proved.

A control volume based finite element method for simulating incompressible two-phase flow in heterogeneous porous media and its application to reservoir engineering

Applying the standard Galerkin finite element method for solving flow problems in porous media encounters some difficulties such as numerical oscillation at the shock front and discontinuity of the velocity field on element faces.Discontinuity of velocity field leads this method not to conserve mass locally.Moreover,the accuracy and stability of a solution is highly affected by a non-conservative method.In this paper,a three dimensional control volume finite element method is developed for twophase fluid flow simulation which overcomes the deficiency of the standard finite element method,and attains high-orders of accuracy at a reasonable computational cost.Moreover,this method is capable of handling heterogeneity in a very rational way.A fully implicit scheme is applied to temporal discretization of the governing equations to achieve an unconditionally stable solution.The accuracy and efficiency of the method are verified by simulating some waterflooding experiments.Some representative examples are presented to illustrate the capability of the method to simulate two-phase fluid flow in heterogeneous porous media.

TWO PHASE COMPRESSIBLE FLOW IN POROUS MEDIA

We study the mathematical model of two phase compressible flows through porous media. Under the condition that the compressibility of rock, oil, and water is small, we prove that the initial-boundary value problem of the nonlinear system of equations admits a weak solution.

Flow characteristics and regime transition of aqueous foams in porous media over a wide range of quality,velocity,and surfactant concentration

Aqueous foam is broadly applicable to enhanced oil recovery(EOR).The rheology of foam as a function of foam quality,gas and liquid velocities,and surfactant concentration constitute the foundation of its application.The great variations of the above factors can affect the effectiveness of N2 foam in EOR continuously in complex formations,which is rarely involved in previous relevant studies.This paper presents an experimental study of foam flow in porous media by injecting pre-generated N2 foam into a sand pack under the conditions of considering a wide range of gas and liquid velocities and surfactant concentrations.The results show that in a wide range of gas and liquid velocities,the pressure gradient contours are L-shaped near the coordinate axes,but V-shaped in other regions.And the surfactant concentration is a strong factor influencing the trend of pressure gradient contours.Foam flow resistance is very sensitive to the surfactant concentration in both the high-and low-foam quality regime,especially when the surfactant concentration is less than CMC.The foam quality is an important variable to the flow resistance obtained.There exists a transition point from low-to high-quality regime in a particular flow system,where has the maximum flow resistance,the corresponding foam quality is called transition foam quality,which increases as the surfactant concentration increases.The results can add to our knowledge base of foam rheology in porous media,and can provide a strong basis for the field application of foams.

MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF TWO-PHASE FLUID NONLINEAR FLOW IN LOW-PERMEABILITY POROUS MEDIA WITH APPLICATIONS

A mathematical model of two-phase fluid nonlinear flow in the direction of normal of ellipse through low-permeability porous media was established according to a nonlinear flow law expressed in a continuous function with three parameters, a mass conservation law and a concept of turbulent ellipses. A solution to the model was obtained by using a finite difference method and an extrapolation method. Formulas of calculating development index not only before but also after water breaks through an oil well in the condition of two-phase fluid nonlinear flow in the media were derived. An example was discussed. Water saturation distribution was presented. The moving law of drainage front was found. Laws of change of pressure difference with time were recognized. Results show that there is much difference of water saturation distribution between nonlinear flow and linear flow; that drainage front by water moves faster, water breaks through sooner and the index gets worse because of the nonlinear flow; and that dimensionless pressure difference gets larger at the same dimensionless time and difficulty of oil development becomes bigger by the nonlinear flow. Thus, it is necessary that influence of nonlinear flow on development indexes of the oil fields be taken into account. The results provide water-flooding development of the oilfields with scientific basis.

Digital image processing of saturation for two-phase flow in planar porous media model

In this paper, the accuracy of estimating stained non-wetting phase saturation using digital image processing is examined, and a novel post-processing approach for calculating threshold is presented. In order to remove the effect of the background noise of images and to enhance the high-frequency component of the original image, image smoothing and image sharpening methods are introduced. Depending on the correct threshold, the image binarization processing is particularly useful for estimating stained non-wetting phase saturation. Calculated saturation data are compared with the measured saturation data during the two-phase flow experiment in an artificial steel planar porous media model. The results show that the calculated saturation data agree with the measured ones. With the help of an artificial steel planar porous media model, digital image processing is an accurate and simple method for obtaining the stained non-wetting phase saturation.

Numerical Approach of a Coupled Pressure-Saturation Model Describing Oil-Water Flow in Porous Media

Two-phase flow in porous media is a very active field of research,due to its important applications in groundwater pollution,CO_(2)sequestration,or oil and gas production from petroleum reservoirs,just to name a few of them.Fractional flow equations,which make use of Darcy's law,for describing the movement of two immiscible fluids in a porous medium,are among the most relevant mathematical models in reservoir simulation.This work aims to solve a fractional flow model formed by an elliptic equation,representing the spatial distribution of the pressure,and a hyperbolic equation describing the space-time evolution of water saturation.The numerical solution of the elliptic part is obtained using a finite-element(FE)scheme,while the hyperbolic equation is solved by means of two dif-ferent numerical approaches,both in the finite-volume(FV)framework.One is based on a monotonic upstream-centered scheme for conservation laws(MUSCL)-Hancock scheme,whereas the other makes use of a weighted essentially non-oscillatory(ENO)reconstruc-tion.In both cases,a first-order centered(FORCE)-αnumerical scheme is applied for inter-cell flux reconstruction,which constitutes a new contribution in the field of fractional flow models describing oil-water movement.A relevant feature of this work is the study of the effect of the parameterαon the numerical solution of the models considered.We also show that,in the FORCE-αmethod,when the parameterαincreases,the errors diminish and the order of accuracy is more properly attained,as verified using a manufactured solution technique.

Measurement of Two Phase Flow in Porous Medium Using High-resolution Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Measurement of two phase flow in porous medium for sequestration was carried out using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique. The porous medium was a packed bed of glass beads. Spin echo multi sequence was used to measure the distribution of CO2 and water in the porous medium. The intensity images show that the fluid distribution is non-uniform due to its viscosity and pore structure of porous medium. The velocity distribution of fluids is calculated from the saturation of water and porosity of porous medium. The experimental results show that fluid velocities vary with time and position. The capillary dispersion rate donated the effects of capillary, which was largest at water saturations of 0.45. The displacement process is different between in BZ-02 and BZ-2. The final water residual saturation depends on permeability and porosity.

A lattice Boltzmann exploration of two-phase displacement in 2D porous media under various pressure boundary conditions

While experimental designs developed in recent decades have contributed to research on dynamic nonequilibrium effects in transient two-phase flow in porous media,this problem has been seldom investigated using direct numerical simulation(DNS).Only a few studies have sought to numerically solve Navier—Stokes equations with level-set(LS)or volume-of-fluid(VoF)methods,each of which has constraints in terms of meniscus dynamics for various flow velocities in the control volume(CV)domain.The Shan—Chen multiphase multicomponent lattice Boltzmann method(SC-LBM)has a fundamental mechanism to separate immiscible fluid phases in the density domain without these limitations.Therefore,this study applied it to explore two-phase displacement in a single representative elementary volume(REV)of two-dimensional(2D)porous media.As a continuation of a previous investigation into one-step inflow/outflow in 2D porous media,this work seeks to identify dynamic nonequilibrium effects on capillary pressure—saturation relationship(P_(c)—S)for quasi-steady-state flow and multistep inflow/outflow under various pressure boundary conditions.The simulation outcomes show that P_(c),S and specific interfacial area(a_(nw))had multistep-wise dynamic effects corresponding to the multistep-wise pressure boundary conditions.With finer adjustments to the increase in pressure over more steps,dynamic nonequilibrium effects were significantly alleviated and even finally disappeared to achieve quasisteady-state inflow/outflow conditions.Furthermore,triangular wave-formed pressure boundary conditions were applied in different periods to investigate dynamic nonequilibrium effects for hysteretical Pc—S.The results showed overshoot and undershoot of P_(c)to S in loops of the nonequilibrium hysteresis.In addition,the flow regimes of multistep-wise dynamic effects were analyzed in terms of Reynolds and capillary numbers(Re and Ca).The analysis of REV-scale flow regimes showed higher Re(1<Re<10)for more significant dynamic nonequilibrium effects.This indicates that inertia is critical for transient twophase flow in porous media under dynamic nonequilibrium conditions.

Empirical mode decomposition of multiphase flows in porous media:characteristic scales and speed of convergence

We apply a proper orthogonal decomposition(POD)to data stemming from numerical simulations of a fingering instability in a multiphase flow passing through obstacles in a porous medium,to study water injection processes in the production of hydrocarbon reservoirs.We show that the time evolution of a properly defined flow correlation length can be used to identify the onset of the fingering instability.Computation of characteristic lengths for each of the modes resulting from the POD provides further information on the dynamics of the system.Finally,using numerical simulations with different viscosity ratios,we show that the convergence of the POD depends non-trivially on whether the fingering instability develops or not.This result has implications on proposed methods to decrease the dimensionality of the problem by deriving reduced dynamical systems after truncating the system’s governing equations to a few POD modes.

Pore structure and liquid flow velocity distribution in water-saturated porous media probed by MRI

Magnetic resonance imaging （MRI） was used to probe the structure and flow velocity within the interparticle space of a packed bed of agar beads under water-saturated condition. The images of the velocity field at three different flow rates were obtained. To determine the pore-parameter of the porous media, the internal structure of the bed was also obtained using image processing technique. The results show that the porosity of the sample is 31.28% and the fitting curve for the distribution of pore equivalent diameter follows Gaussian distribution. The velocity profiles do shift as the flow rate varies and the solution flow through the void space is not a homogeneous flow in any pores. The velocity distributions within the pore are roughly parabolic with the local maximum being near the center. About half of the velocity components are in the class of 0-1 cm/s. The frequency of lower velocity components is lower at higher flow rate, but to higher velocity components, it is just the opposite.

Volumetric lattice Boltzmann method for pore-scale mass diffusionadvection process in geopolymer porous structures

Porous materials present significant advantages for absorbing radioactive isotopes in nuclear waste streams.To improve absorption efficiency in nuclear waste treatment,a thorough understanding of the diffusion-advection process within porous structures is essential for material design.In this study,we present advancements in the volumetric lattice Boltzmann method(VLBM)for modeling and simulating pore-scale diffusion-advection of radioactive isotopes within geopolymer porous structures.These structures are created using the phase field method(PFM)to precisely control pore architectures.In our VLBM approach,we introduce a concentration field of an isotope seamlessly coupled with the velocity field and solve it by the time evolution of its particle population function.To address the computational intensity inherent in the coupled lattice Boltzmann equations for velocity and concentration fields,we implement graphics processing unit(GPU)parallelization.Validation of the developed model involves examining the flow and diffusion fields in porous structures.Remarkably,good agreement is observed for both the velocity field from VLBM and multiphysics object-oriented simulation environment(MOOSE),and the concentration field from VLBM and the finite difference method(FDM).Furthermore,we investigate the effects of background flow,species diffusivity,and porosity on the diffusion-advection behavior by varying the background flow velocity,diffusion coefficient,and pore volume fraction,respectively.Notably,all three parameters exert an influence on the diffusion-advection process.Increased background flow and diffusivity markedly accelerate the process due to increased advection intensity and enhanced diffusion capability,respectively.Conversely,increasing the porosity has a less significant effect,causing a slight slowdown of the diffusion-advection process due to the expanded pore volume.This comprehensive parametric study provides valuable insights into the kinetics of isotope uptake in porous structures,facilitating the development of porous materials for nuclear waste treatment applications.

Review on the Development of Oil and Gas Flow in Underground Porous Media

Through reviewing the flow theory’s birth and development history in underground porous media and contrasting the mechanics of underground fluids and mechanics of viscous fluids, this paper points out the main factors, which affect the development of the theory on oil and gas porous flow. The development law and development route of the mechanics of fluids in porous media are also summarized in this paper.

A Comparison Results of Some Analytical Solutions of Model in Double Phase Flow through Porous Media

In this paper, we consider Variational Iteration Method （VIM） and q-Homotopy Analysis Method （q-HAM） to sotve me partial differential equation resulted from Fingero Imbibition phenomena in double phase flow through porous media. We further compare the results obtained here with the solution obtained in [ 12] using Adomian Decomposition Method. Numerical results are obtained, using Mathematica 9, to show the effectiveness of these methods to our choice of problem especially for suitable values ofh and n.

Anisotropic dynamic permeability model for porous media

Based on the tortuous capillary network model,the relationship between anisotropic permeability and rock normal strain,namely the anisotropic dynamic permeability model(ADPM),was derived and established.The model was verified using pore-scale flow simulation.The uniaxial strain process was calculated and the main factors affecting permeability changes in different directions in the deformation process were analyzed.In the process of uniaxial strain during the exploitation of layered oil and gas reservoirs,the effect of effective surface porosity on the permeability in all directions is consistent.With the decrease of effective surface porosity,the sensitivity of permeability to strain increases.The sensitivity of the permeability perpendicular to the direction of compression to the strain decreases with the increase of the tortuosity,while the sensitivity of the permeability in the direction of compression to the strain increases with the increase of the tortuosity.For layered reservoirs with the same initial tortuosity in all directions,the tortuosity plays a decisive role in the relative relationship between the variations of permeability in all directions during pressure drop.When the tortuosity is less than 1.6,the decrease rate of horizontal permeability is higher than that of vertical permeability,while the opposite is true when the tortuosity is greater than 1.6.This phenomenon cannot be represented by traditional dynamic permeability model.After the verification by experimental data of pore-scale simulation,the new model has high fitting accuracy and can effectively characterize the effects of deformation in different directions on the permeability in all directions.

Soft Template-Induced Porous Polyvinylidene Fluoride Membrane for Vanadium Flow Batteries

Vanadium flow batteries(VFBs)are considered ideal for grid-sc ale,long-duration energy storage applications owing to their decoupled output power and storage capacity,high safety,efficiency,and long cycle life.However,the widespread adoption of VFB s is hindered by the use of expensive Nafion membranes.Herein,we report a soft template-induced method to develop a porous polyvinylidene fluoride(PVDF)membrane for VFB applications.By incorporating water-soluble and flexible polyethylene glycol(PEG 400)as a soft template,we induced the aggregation of hydrophilic sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone),resulting in phase separation from the hydrophobic PVDF polymer during membrane formation.This process led to the creation of a porous PVDF membrane with controllable morphologies determined by the polyethylene glycol content in the cast solution.The optimized porous PVDF membrane enabled a stable VFB performance for 200 cycles at a current density of 80 mA/cm^(2),and the VFB exhibited a Coulombic efficiency of 95.2%and a voltage efficiency of 87.8%.These findings provide valuable insights for the development of highly stable membranes for VFB applications.