Non-equilibrium effects and multiphase flow in porous media
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- We encounter flow in porous media, knowingly or otherwise, on a daily basis; percolation of precipitation into top soil, ground-water supplies obtained from aquifers (ground-water hydrogeology), ground-water contamination studies and remediation thereof, recovery of oil and gas be it primary, secondary, or tertiary (enhanced-oil-recovery), and storage of Carbon-Dioxide in saline aquifers are just a few examples. Our fundamental understanding of the physics of multiphase flow in porous media is the cornerstone of all endeavors to develop mathematical descriptions and use models to make predictions and decide on the proper course of action in efforts to utilize such resources. The objectives of this research are to investigate the relevant physical mechanisms responsible for instabilities in flow dynamics via detailed experimentation and to incorporate the findings in mathematical models that improve upon the predictive capabilities of current models. This work starts with an experimental program comprising a series of core-scale drainage displacement experiments using pairs of immiscible fluids covering a wide range of viscosity ratios. The experiments are designed and carried out with a focus on the fluid mechanics of drainage processes. The analysis of the experimental observations clearly shows the time-evolution of constitutive relationships and flux functions in the formulation of multiphase flow in porous media. A self-consistent general formulation for multiphase flow in porous media is developed that is firmly based in physics observed in core-scale and micromodel experiments. We account for nonequilibrium effects by considering redistribution time and treat saturation by evolving locally moving time-averages of the saturation. The proposed abstraction provides a non-zero temporal support for constitutive relationships for porous media. Several families of models arise from approximations to the general formulation with various degrees of accuracy. The classical Buckley-Leverett and Barenblatt expressions are examples of these families. We explore the behaviors of a number of special cases arising from the proposed general formulation using established and novel numerical schemes by providing nonlinear physics-based preconditioning to reduce the stiffness inherent in models derived with higher orders of accuracy of approximation. Finally, results of numerical simulations of these models are presented and comparison is made with experimental observations. The agreement observed between numerical and experimental results demonstrates the consistency of the proposed abstraction.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2012 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Aryana, Saman Afqahi |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Energy Resources Engineering. |
| Primary advisor | Kovscek, Anthony R. (Anthony Robert) |
| Thesis advisor | Kovscek, Anthony R. (Anthony Robert) |
| Thesis advisor | Castanier, Louis M |
| Thesis advisor | Tchelepi, Hamdi |
| Advisor | Castanier, Louis M |
| Advisor | Tchelepi, Hamdi |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Saman A. Aryana. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Energy Resources Engineering. |
| Thesis | Ph.D. Stanford University 2012 |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2012 by Saman Afqahi Aryana
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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