Author : Kendra I. Brown
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 62 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (81 download)
Book Synopsis Pore-scale Observations of Three-fluid-phase Transport in Porous Media by : Kendra I. Brown
Download or read book Pore-scale Observations of Three-fluid-phase Transport in Porous Media written by Kendra I. Brown and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Understanding the transport of three fluid phases through porous media has important applications in subsurface contaminant remediation, oil and gas recovery, and geological CO2 sequestration. Existing transport models may be improved by including physical phenomena that govern fluid flow at the pore scale. In particular, thermodynamic arguments suggest that hysteresis in the capillary pressure-saturation (P[subscript c]-S) relationship may be resolved by including an additional parameter, fluid-fluid interfacial area per volume (a[subscript nw]). Synchrotron-based Computed X-ray Microtomography (CMT) is a method that allows observation of fluid interfaces. Flow experiments were conducted using CMT to investigate uniqueness of the P[subscript c]-S[subscript w]-a[subscript nw] relationship in a porous media system containing three immiscible fluid phases. Drainage and imbibition surfaces were fit to P[subscript c]-S[subscript w]-a[subscript nw] data collected over a limited range of water saturations. The root-mean-square error (RMSE) between the drainage and imbibition surfaces was negligible, indicating that the P[subscript c]-S[subscript w]-a[subscript nw] relationship is unique. These results are a first step in validating the P[subscript c]-S[subscript w]-a[subscript nw] relationship for three-phase porous media systems. In addition, spreading intermediate-phase layers were observed to bring oil and solid into contact, which in the presence of X-rays changed the solid wettability within a relatively short time period. These observations confirm a proposed theoretical scenario that three-phase systems are more susceptible to wettability changes than to two-phase systems due to intermediate-phase spreading behavior.