Stress-induced fluid flow anisotropy in fractured rock

Anisotropic stress states are common in the upper crust and result in fracture apertures being dependent on fracture orientation. Fractured rocks should therefore display an anisotropic permeability determined by the aperture, length, and orientation of those fractures remaining open. In this paper, a numerical study of this effect is made for a rock containing two orthogonal fracture sets subject to a uniaxial compressive stress applied perpendicular to one of the sets. With increasing compressive stress, the decreasing aperture of fractures orientated perpendicular to the stress axis leads to a decrease in permeability both parallel and perpendicular to the stress. For flow parallel to the stress direction, this is a consequence of the finite length of the fractures, flow in fractures perpendicular to the stress being required to connect fractures orientated parallel to the stress direction. As the number of fractures is decreased towards the percolation threshold, the average permeability tensor is found to become increasingly isotropic. This behaviour results from the highly tortuous nature of the flow paths just at the percolation threshold.     

Analytical investigation of the fluid flow in the interface region between a porous medium and a clear fluid in channels partially filled with a porous medium

In this paper analytical solutions for the steady fully developed laminar fluid flow in the parallel-plate and cylindrical channels partially filled with a porous medium and partially with a clear fluid are presented. The Brinkman-extended Darcy equation is utilized to model the flow in a porous region. The solutions account for the boundary effects and for the stress jump boundary condition at the interface recently suggested by Ochoa-Tapia and Whitaker. The dependence of the velocity on the Darcy number and on the adjustable coefficient in the stress jump boundary condition is investigated. It is shown that accounting for a jump in the shear stress at the interface essentially influences velocity profiles.     

Surface deposition from fluid flow in a porous medium

The changes to porosity and permeability resulting from surface deposition and early dissolution in an initial rhombohedral array of uniform spheres are studied. Very rapid decreases in permeability result from early deposition, with 48 percent reduction predicted in permeability from 8 percent reduction in porosity. After deposition has caused about a 1 percent increase in the radii of the spherical array, relative permeability reductions vary approximately as the square of relative changes in porosity. These theoretical results are matched with experimental data of Itoi et al. and Moore et al. on deposition of silica. Satisfactory results are obtained in some cases, but for other cases a more complex model of the porous medium is needed.     

THE TRANSIENT ELLIPTIC FLOW OF POWER-LAW FLUID IN FRACTAL POROUS MEDIA

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Modelling high speed flow of a compressible fluid in a saturated porous medium

A modification to the Forchheimer-Brinkman equation, for the modelling of high speed flow of a compressible fluid in a dense saturated porous medium, is proposed. The modified equation is applied to a flow in which choking can occur.     

Transient oscillatory and constantly accelerated non-Newtonian flow in a porous medium

This paper looks at the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) analysis for transient flow of an Oldroyd-B fluid in a porous medium. The presented analysis takes into account the modified Darcy's law. The flow is induced due to constantly accelerated and oscillating plate. Expressions for the corresponding velocity field and the adequate tangential stress are determined by means of the Fourier sine transform. The influence of various parameters of interest on the velocity and tangential stress has been shown and discussed. A comparison for different kinds of fluids is also provided.     

Numerical simulation of non-Darcian flow through a porous medium

This work reports on fluid flow in a fluid-saturated porous medium, accounting for the boundary and inertial effects in the momentum equation. The flow is simulated by Brinkman-Forchheimer-extended Darcy formulation (DFB), using MAC (Marker And Cell) and Chorin pressure iteration method. The method is validated by comparison with analytic results. The effect of Reynolds number, Darcy number, porosity and viscosity ratio on velocity is investigated. As a result, it is found that Darcy number has a decisive influence on pressure as well as velocity, and the effect of viscosity ratio on velocity is very strong given the Darcy number. Additional key findings include unreasonable choice of effective viscosity can involve loss of important physical information.     

Effect of a periodic action on average flow in an inhomogeneous liquid-saturated porous medium

The problem of the average flow of a viscous incompressible fluid saturating a stationary porous incompressible matrix under a periodic action is considered. It is shown that a spatial inhomogeneity of the medium porosity leads to an average fluid flow, quadratically dependent on the action amplitude, in the direction of increase in porosity. In particular, this means that wave action on an oil reservoir could lead to fluid flow on the interfaces from low-porosity,weakly permeable collector regions into high-porosity regions, for example, to flow from blocks to fractures in fractured porous reservoirs, which makes it possible to enhance oil production. It is shown that in the presence of a constant pressure gradient the flow component generated by a periodic action can provide a substantial proportion of the total flow, especially on the boundaries with low-porosity strata or blocks. With increase in amplitude this may significantly exceed the component associated with the constant pressure gradient.     

A LGA model for fluid flow in heterogeneous porous media

A lattice gas automaton (LGA) model is proposed to simulate fluid flow in heterogeneous porous media. Permeability fields are created by distributing scatterers (solids, grains) within the fluid flow field. These scatterers act as obstacles to flow. The loss in momentum of the fluid is directly related to the permeability of the lattice gas model. It is shown that by varying the probability of occurrence of solid nodes, the permeability of the porous medium can be changed over several orders of magnitude. To simulate fluid flow in heterogeneous permeability fields, isotropic, anisotropic, random, and correlated permeability fields are generated. The lattice gas model developed here is then used to obtain the effective permeability as well as the local fluid flow field. The method presented here can be used to simulate fluid flow in arbitrarily complex heterogeneous porous media.     

缝洞型多孔介质中多相流的有限体积法数值模拟

本文研究的碳酸盐岩油藏储集体属于缝洞型多孔介质.这类缝洞型多孔介质由裂缝、溶蚀孔洞和低孔隙度低渗透率的基岩组成.裂缝是空隙流体流动的主要通道;溶蚀孔洞大小从几厘米到数米不等,渗透率和孔隙度都很高,是流体主要的储集空间.由于缝洞型多孔介质空隙空间的复杂性和强非均质性,数值计算中基本控制方程的空间离散应采用非结构化网格的计算模型.本文采用有限体积法模拟缝洞型多孔介质中多相流体的流动,并给出了相应的单元中心格式有限体积法的计算公式.裂缝介质和溶洞介质中单元间多相流体的流动考虑为高速非达西流,其质量通量采用Forchheimer定律计算.非线性方程的离散选取全隐式格式,并采用Newton-Raphson迭代进行求解.通过两个二维模型注水驱油的数值模拟,验证了本文方法的有效性.     

On the existence of self-similar solutions of the equations governing unsteady flow through a porous medium

In this paper the conditions for the existence of self-similar solutions of the equations governing unsteady flows through a porous medium are presented and discussed. The first two sections deal with the case of non-Newtonian fluids of power-law behavior; the third section analyzes the case of non-Darcy gas flows. The boundary and initial conditions occuring currently in a large class of fluid mechanics problems, of practical interest in engineering, are considered.     

Two fluid flow and heat transfer in an inclined channel containing porous and fluid layer

Convective flow and heat transfer in an inclined channel bounded by two rigid plates held at constant different temperatures with one region filled with porous matrix saturated with a viscous fluid and another region with a clear viscous fluid different from the fluid in first region is studied analytically. The coupled nonlinear governing equations are solved using regular perturbation method. It is found that the presence of porous matrix in one of the region reduces the velocity and temperature. Results have been presented for a wide range of governing parameters such as Grashof number, porous parameter, angle of inclination, ratio of heights of the two layers and also the ratio of viscosities.     

Problem of propagation of a gas fracture in a porous medium

The problem of gas fracture formation in a porous medium is investigated. An inertialess viscous polytropic gas flow along the fracture is considered. The assumption of small fracture width with respect to the height and length makes it possible to adopt the vertical plane cross-section hypothesis on the basis of which the dependence of the gas pressure inside the fracture on its width can be reduced to a linear law. Initially, the soil surrounding the fracture is soaked with oil-bearing fluid. During fracturing the reservoir gas penetrates into the soil mass and displaces the fluid. A closed system of equations, which describes the evolution of the fracture opening, the depth of gas penetration into the reservoir, and the gas velocities inside the fracture, is constructed. The limiting regimes of gas seepage into the surrounding reservoir are considered and a one-parameter family of self-similar solutions of the system is given for each. The asymptotics of the solution in the neighborhood of the fracture nose is investigated and analytic expressions for the fracture length are obtained. The solution of the problem of gas fracture is compared with the hydraulic fracturing problem in an analogous formulation within the framework of the plane cross-section hypothesis.     

Analytic solution for flow of Sisko fluid through a porous medium

This paper presents the analytic solution for flow of a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) Sisko fluid through a porous medium. The non-linear flow problem in a porous medium is formulated by introducing the modified Darcy’s law for Sisko fluid to discuss the flow in a porous medium. The analytic solutions are obtained using homotopy analysis method (HAM). The obtained analytic solutions are explicitly expressed by the recurrence relations and can give results for all the appropriate values of material parameters of the examined fluid. Moreover, the well-known solutions for a Newtonian fluid in non-porous and porous medium are the limiting cases of our solutions.     

An overview on nonlinear porous flow in low permeability porous media

This paper gives an overview on nonlinear porous flow in low permeability porous media, reveals the microscopic mechanisms of flows, and clarifies properties of porous flow fluids. It shows that, deviating from Darcy's linear law, the porous flow characteristics obey a nonlinear law in a low-permeability porous medium, and the viscosity of the porous flow fluid and the permeability values of water and oil are not constants. Based on these characters, a new porous flow model, which can better describe low permeability reservoir, is established. This model can describe various patterns of porous flow, as Darcy's linear law does. All the parameters involved in the model, having definite physical meanings, can be obtained directly from the experiments.     

Unsteady hydromagnetic Couette flow through a porous medium in a rotating system

This paper investigates the unsteady hydromagnetic Couette fluid flow through a porous medium between two infinite horizontal plates induced by the non-torsional oscillations of one of the plates in a rotating system using boundary layer approximation. The fluid is assumed to be Newtonian and incompressible. Laplace transform technique is adopted to obtain a unified solution of the velocity fields. Such a flow model is of great interest, not only for its theoretical significance, but also for its wide applications to geophysics and engineering. Analytical expressions for the steady state velocity and shear stress on the plates are obtained, and the case of single oscillating plate is also discussed. The influence of pertinent parameters on the flow is delineated, and appropriate conclusions are drawn.     

Plane steady-state incompressible fluid flow through a porous medium with a nonlinear resistance laws in the presence of a sink

Plane nonlinear fluid flows through a porous medium which simulate a sink located at the same distance from the roof and floor of the stratum for two nonlinear flow laws are constructed. The following flow laws are taken: a power law and a law of special form reducing to analytic functions in the hodograph plane.