Coupling of Foam Drainage and Viscous Fingering in Porous Media Revealed by X-ray Computed Tomography |
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Authors: | Pacelli L J Zitha Quoc P Nguyen Peter K Currie Marten A Buijse |
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Institution: | (1) Faculty of Applied Earth Sciences, Delft University of Technology, Mijnbouwstraat 120, 2624 RX Delft, The Netherlands;(2) Shell International Exploration and Production, Volmerlaan 8, Postbus 60, 2280 AB Rijswijk, The Netherlands |
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Abstract: | We investigate the development foam in granular porous media and the subsequent flow of the surfactant solution, where the
fluid fraction variations are visualized and quantified using X-ray computed tomography. It is found that foam flows in a
front like manner leading to a residual liquid fraction of 0.18±0.01, far from the inlet surface of the porous sample. A desaturation
backward wave is also observed during foam development. We provided direct evidence that the flow of surfactant solution in
porous media containing foam gives rise to superposition of a drainage wave and a characteristic viscous fingering pattern.
In the wave the liquid fraction ranges from the above residual value to nearly 0.25±0.01. The liquid fraction associated with
the viscous fingering decays as a function of distance but the inlet value increases up to 0.06±0.01. Certain ideas about
the physics of foam flow in porous media are revised in the light of our findings. |
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Keywords: | foam drainage viscous fingering experiments CT scan |
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