Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation
 

Investigating capillary pressure and interfacial area for multiphase flow in porous media using pore-scale imaging and lattice-Boltzmann modeling

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https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/w0892d52j

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  • Recent advances in imaging technology and numerical modeling have greatly enhanced pore-scale investigations of multiphase flow and transport in porous media. It is now feasible to obtain high resolution 3-dimensional pore-scale data, and numerical methods such as the lattice- Boltzmann (LB) technique have been developed specifically for simulating such phenomena. Traditional macro-scale multiphase flow models rely heavily on empirical relationships. For example, the interaction between fluids at their interfaces is accounted for indirectly through the empirical relative permeability relationship. Nevertheless, it has recently been hypothesized that the single most important variable missing from current macro-scale models is the measure of interfacial dynamics between fluids within the pores. Furthermore, the empirical capillary pressure-saturation relationship used in macro-scale multiphase flow simulators has been shown to be a function of interfacial area per volume. This study focuses on (1) the measurement and modeling of the capillary pressure-saturation relationship; and (2) the characterization of the fluid-fluid interfacial area per volume as a function of saturation. The study synthesizes experimental results derived from pore-scale computerized micro-tomographic (CMT) images with LB simulations. An image analysis algorithm for quantifying fluid-fluid interfacial area per volume from experimental CMT and simulation images was developed and verified. The experimental results were shown to be in good agreement with values reported in the literature. Furthermore, the capillary ressure-saturation curves were used to validate a recently proposed macro-scale interfacial area model. New LB simulations of drainage and imbibition for an air-water system were developed, in which the full geometry from the experimental system was used to define the lattice. This allowed for the direct comparison of experimental and simulated phase distributions within the pores. LB simulations showed excellent agreement with experimental results, considering no optimization or calibration to the data was required. Collectively, results show that there is a complex functional relationship between capillary pressure, saturation and interfacial area that provides insights into multiphase flow and transport processes that can not be obtained from the capillary pressure-saturation relationship alone.
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