Numerical modelling of multiphase flow in porous media
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Multiphase flow
Abstract For past few decades, Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) has been posing an exigent task for researchers in oil and gas industry. Traditionally for many geological formations, water and gas are used as displacing fluids for oil recovery. More recently foam–a dispersion of liquid in gas–has proved to be highly successful than traditional fluid displacement methods to recover trapped oil in the porous rock. Foam increases oil displacement efficiency by controlling gas mobility and gravity override. In this work oil recovery efficiency using water, gas and foam flooding is compared. To determine optimal oil recovery scenario, we perform numerical modelling for two-phase immiscible flows in porous media and perform simulations to determine oil recovery from water, gas and foam flooding. 2D two-phase and three-phase flow models are created in COMSOL and effects of viscous instabilities and permeability of different ground layers on recovery factor are investigated.
Relative permeability
Water flooding
Oil in place
Multiphase flow
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CFD model of multiphase flow can be realized by the combination of Euler-Euler model and kinetic theory of multiphase flow,Based on these theories,modeling was used to simulate a liquid-solid flow,distributions of velocity and characteristic of two phase flow was calculated in a vertical pipe.The results show that clusters exist in the pipe and liquid-solid two phase flow was analysised.The main causation of the pressure fluctuation and energy dissipation were caused by the formation,movement and decomposition of the clusters.The results are in a good agreement with experi-mental data and provide theory direction for advanced research of multiphase flow fluidized bed.
Multiphase flow
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Fluidisation is the process by which the weight of a bed of particles is supported by a gas flow passing through it from below. When fluidised materials flow down an incline, the dynamics of the motion differ from their non-fluidised counterparts because the granular agitation is no longer required to support the weight of the flowing layer. Instead, the weight is borne by the imposed gas flow and this leads to a greatly increased flow mobility. In this paper, a framework is developed to model this two phase motion by incorporating a kinetic theory description for the particulate stresses generated by the flow. In addition to calculating numerical solutions for fully developed flows, it is shown that for sufficiently thick flows there is often a local balance between the production and dissipation of the granular temperature. This phenomenon permits an asymptotic reduction of the full governing equations and the identification of a simple state in which the volume fraction of the flow is uniform. The results of the model are compared with new experimental measurements of the internal velocity profiles of steady granular flows down slopes. The distance covered with time by unsteady granular flows down slopes and along horizontal surfaces and their shapes are also measured and compared with theoretical predictions developed for flows that are thin relative to their streamwise extent. For the horizontal flows, it was found that resistance from the sidewalls was required in addition to basal resistance to capture accurately the unsteady evolution of the front position and the depth of the current and for situations in which side-wall drag dominates, similarity solutions are found for the experimentally-measured motion.
Multiphase flow
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Rock, soil and many porous-like materials are often fractured or structured media, which can exhibit dual-porosity behaviour. Studies on solute transport in deformable dual-porosity media remain challenging due to the multi-physics coupled effects and the complex interaction between fractures (or macropores) and the porous matrix. Although several studies exist on constitutive modelling of coupled behaviour in deformable dual-porosity media, the previously developed models are not systematic in thermodynamical frameworks. This paper proposes a mixture coupling theory approach based on non-equilibrium thermodynamics to develop a solute transport model with consideration of hydromechanical coupling in dual-porosity media (referred to as the ST-HM model). This paper derives the constitutive equations of fully hydromechanical coupled behaviour in dual-porosity media and considers the pore and fracture porosity evolution influenced by both hydraulic and mechanical fields. Therefore, the governing equations of ST-HM are capable of predicting non-reactive solute transport with a fully hydromechanical coupled effect in dual-porosity media. Then, the model was verified against existing models and validated by relevant experimental results. Further, a numerical example shows that the presented model significantly improves the accuracy of the prediction of porosity, fluid pressure and solute concentration compared with previous models, which ignore the fully hydromechanical coupled effects on solute transport.
Macropore
Mixture theory
Matrix (chemical analysis)
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In the steam generator and the fuel sub-assembly, gas-liquid two-phase flows are strongly affected by flow obstacles such as fuel pin bundles and tube bundles in flow field. To analyze the multi-dimensional two-phase flows in such system, we developed a modified drift flux model, which takes account of the effect of the centrifugal force due to curvatures of streamlines. In the experimental study to verify the model, characteristics of two-phase flows were measured in rectangular water tank, into which a porous plate was inserted as a flow obstacle. The experimental analysis with the modified drift flux model was performed introducing a general pressure loss term into the momentum equation to represent the effect of flow resistance due to flow obstacles. The analytical results were in good agreement with the experiment, and indicated the model applicability to the two-phase flow affected by flow obstacles.
Momentum (technical analysis)
Slug flow
Multiphase flow
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Multiphase flow in porous media is fundamentally a microscopic process that governs the behavior of geologic scale processes. The application of existing (standard) macroscopic models to problems of geologic scale multiphase flow has proved to be unsatisfactory within a wide range of governing parameters. Our objective is to develop the missing link between the fundamental physics of multiphase flow at the pore-scale and the phenomenological representation of dynamic behaviors across a hierarchy of geologic scales. An essential prerequisite to such an analysis is a qualitative understanding of the flow behavior in terms of flow structures that exist for various parameter combination within the regime of CO2 sequestration. An experimental study addressing these objectives is presented. Experiments are carried out at the laboratory scale in a vertical glass-bead pack, in the parameter range of sequestration flows. Experimental results are interpreted with the help of invasion percolation models.
Percolation (cognitive psychology)
Multiphase flow
Representation
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The research for gas-liquid two-phase flow is very important for flow assurance and flow stability of chemical transportation. In terms of transportation pipelines, the curved section is a very significant part. Therefore, the present work proposes a transient slug flow model for the curve pipes, and we conducted some experiments to validate it. This slug flow model is a four-equation model that contains mass and momentum balances with the closure relations. The normal two-dimensional rectangular coordinate system is simplified to the one-dimensional polar coordinate system, which will make the simulation faster and easier. The common flow parameters, such as the pressure profile along the pipeline, real-time pressure, and liquid holdup, are calculated in this model. Three groups of experiments with three different pipe curvatures were carried out to validate this model; the experiments were under the same conditions as those of the model calculations. The transient pressure and liquid holdup were measured at the middle of the curved pipe. The experimental data are compared to the calculated results, and there are error analyses of pressure and liquid holdup that are made to review the model's performance. The analyses show that a large proportion of the pressure errors is within 10%, and most of the liquid holdup errors are within 0.1. The comparisons between the model and experiments show good agreement.
Slug flow
Closure (psychology)
Transient (computer programming)
Transient flow
Experimental data
Momentum (technical analysis)
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Today there is a great interest in micro-scale multiphase fluid flow. In the paper, the numerical simulation of two-phase flow inside 3 mm minichannel was carried out. The liquid- gas interface was captured using the level-set method. During the calculation, the stabilization and reinitialization of level set function was performed in order to obtain the proper accuracy of the simulation. Incompressible Navier-Stokes equations were solved using the COMSOL Multiphysics® on a two-dimensional mesh. The process of formation of different two-phase flow patterns in the minichannel has been investigated. During the simulation it has been analysed three flow patterns: the bubbly flow and two kinds of slug flow with short and long slugs. It has been shown that unsteady flow at the inlet of the minichannel is responsible for the chaotic character of changes of the slug and bubble sizes. Such unsteady flow modifies the distance between the bubbles and slugs. It has been shown that for the low water inlet velocity the two-phase flow pattern becomes more stable.
Slug flow
Level set method
Multiphysics
Multiphase flow
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Filtration of an incompressible liquid (gas) in a non-deformable porous medium is investigated. The results of numerical simulation of the hydrodynamic features of the flow arising after the passage of the liquid through a layer of an immobile porous medium are presented. An interpenetrating model of multiphase media is used to describe such flows. Kozeny-Karman relations are used as the interaction force. The influence of the geometrical shape of the bulk layer on the nature and magnitude of the inhomogeneity of the flow velocity around the obstacle is shown. The shape of the porous medium significantly affects the flow parameters. Numerical simulation results are compared with experimental data. The shape of the porous medium significantly affects the flow parameters. Numerical simulation results are compared with experimental data. The effects of non-uniformity of the fluid velocity field arising due to the shape of the layer surface are investigated by the methods of a computational experiment. A qualitative comparison is made of velocity inhomogeneities when a fluid flows through a porous obstacle. For the numerical implementation of the filtration equation of the interpenetrating model, a SIMPLE-like algorithm was used.
Filtration (mathematics)
Multiphase flow
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Abstract The nature of flow in porous media is determined by the interaction of the physical properties of the medium and fluids, and by the interplay of various forces involved in the displacement process. Identifying flow regions at a given reservoir operating condition is a key issue in forecasting reservoir performance and hence of optimizing operations. This work identifies dominant flow regions at various conditions. Three dimensionless groups, NgvM/(1 + M) (gravity/viscous ratio), NcvM/(1 + M) (capillary/viscous ratio) and Ri2 (shape factor), are defined and used to resolve flow regions. The analysis shows that the relative magnitudes of forces involved in the system combined with the reservoir properties determine the flow region and fluid distribution in the medium. By choosing appropriate ranges for the dimensionless numbers, recovery processes can be specified from the general theory, and the boundaries to flow regions confirmed by comparison with existing experimental and simulation results. Three commonly studied flow systems have been investigated, which are miscible displacements without dispersion (Ncv ≈ 0) in layered reservoirs, immiscible displacements (Ngv ≈ 0) in layered and homogeneous media, and flow in highly fractured reservoirs.
Dimensionless quantity
Multiphase flow
Hele-Shaw flow
Viscous fingering
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Citations (115)