An experimental study of electrorheological fluid flow through a packed bed of glass beads

This paper shows that pressure drop-flow rate performance of an electrorheological (ER) fluid flowing through a packed bed of glass beads is consistent with a modified Ergun equation for yield stress flow through a packed bed. ER fluids are of scientific and engineering interest due to the sensitivity of their rheological properties on the applied electric field. As far as we know ER fluids have not been studied for flows through porous media. In this work a silica particle–silicone oil suspension is pumped through a rectangular packed bed of glass beads with applied electric fields. The silica particles are observed to form fibrous structures parallel to the electric field that stretch between the beads and extend between the electrodes. The pressure drop-flow rate performance agrees well with the expected performance calculated from a modified Ergun equation for a yield stress fluid flow through the packed bed with the viscosity and yield stress as functions of the applied electric field.     

Application of X-ray CT investigation of CO<Subscript>2</Subscript>–brine flow in porous media

A clear understanding of two-phase flows in porous media is important for investigating CO₂ geological storage. In this study, we conducted an experiment of CO₂/brine flow process in porous media under sequestration conditions using X-ray CT technique. The flow properties of relative permeability, porosity heterogeneity, and CO₂ saturation were observed in this experiment. The porous media was packed with glass beads having a diameter of 0.2 mm. The porosity distribution along the flow direction is heterogeneous owing to the diameter and shape of glass beads along the flow direction. There is a relationship between CO₂ saturation and porosity distribution, which changes with different flow rates and fractional flows. The heterogeneity of the porous media influences the distribution of CO₂; moreover, gravity, fractional flows, and flow rates influence CO₂ distribution and saturation. The relative permeability curve was constructed using the steady-state method. The results agreed well with the relative permeability curve simulated using pore-network model.     

An Analysis of the Movement of Wetting and Nonwetting Fluids in Homogeneous Porous Media

The movement of wetting and nonwetting fluid flow in columns packed with glass beads is used to understand the more complicated flows in homogeneous porous media. The motion of two immiscible liquids (oil and water) is observed with different surfactants. Through dimensional analyses, fluid velocity is well correlated with interfacial tension and less dependent on particle size. In water–oil (W/O) experiments, finger pattern flows are observed if water is the displacing fluid that flows in an oil-filled porous media, whereas oil ganglia tend to form if oil is the displacing fluid in the water-wetted porous media. The results are well described by a simple model based on an earlier theory of flow in a tube.     

The Blocking Ability and Flowing Characteristics of Steady Foams in Porous Media

Foam flow experiments were carried out to study the influence factors such as surfactant concentration, foam quality, injection rate of liquid and gas, permeability of porous media, temperature, and oil saturation on blocking ability and flowing characteristics of steady foams in porous media. Foam blocking mechanisms and flowing characteristics were summarized according to the experimental results and foam migration behavior. The results showed that the pressure distribution of flowing foams was linearly descending in porous media at steady state. The results further showed that the foam size and quality in pores along the sand pack were almost uniform, that is, foam generation and destruction gradually reached dynamic equilibrium at steady state. In porous media, the blocking ability of steady foams increased with the concentration of the foaming agent and the increase in the permeability of porous media, but the blocking ability decreased with the increase in the temperature, the shearing rate, and the oil saturation of the porous media. Foam resistance factor reached maximal value at the foam quality of 85% in porous media.     

Influence of Internal Structure and Medium Length on Transport and Deposition of Suspended Particles: A Laboratory Study

A laboratory study was undertaken on the transport and the deposition of suspended particles (silt of modal diametre 6 μm) in three columns of different length, filled with glass beads or gravel. Tracer tests were carried out at various flow velocities by short pulses of a mixture of suspended particles/dissolved tracer. The breakthrough curves were competently described with the analytical solution of a convection dispersion equation with a first-order deposition rate and the hydro-dispersive parameters were deduced. For the same experimental conditions, the results showed a difference in the behaviour of the suspended particles transport and deposition rates within the two porous media tested. The internal structure of both media governs the particle-grain collision frequency as well as the particles trapping. The scale effect was highlighted and affects the dispersivity, the size exclusion effect, the recovery rates and the deposition rates. Longitudinal dispersion increases with mean pore velocity and is described with a nonlinear relationship. The dispersivity increases with the column length. The size exclusion effect is more important in the short column. The recovery rate increases with flow velocity and decreases while increasing column length. The deposition rates increases until a critical flow velocity then decreases. This critical velocity is also sensitive to the scale effect, and increases with the column length.     

Direct Observation of Trapped Gas Bubbles by Capillarity in Sandy Porous Media

We investigated the mechanism of residual gas trapping at a microscopic level. We imaged trapped air bubbles in a Berea sandstone chip after spontaneous imbibition at atmospheric pressure. The pore structure and trapped bubbles were observed by microfocused X-ray computed tomography. Distributions of trapped bubbles in Berea and Tako sandstone were imaged in coreflooding at a capillary number of 1.0 × 10⁻⁶. Trapped bubbles are of two types, those occupying the center of the pore with a pore-scale size and others having a pore-network scale size. In low-porosity media such as sandstone, connected bubbles contribute greatly to trapped gas saturation. Effects of capillary number and injected water volume were investigated using a packed bed of glass beads 600μm in diameter, which had high porosity (38%). The trapped N₂ bubbles are stable against the water flow rate corresponding to a capillary number of 1.0 × 10⁻⁴.     

The Effect of Reservoir Wettability on the Production Characteristics of the VAPEX Process: An Experimental Study

The impact of fractional wettability on the production characteristics of a VAPEX process at the macroscale was investigated. Conventional VAPEX experiments were conducted in a 220 Darcy random packing of glass beads in a rectangular physical model and n-pentane was used to recover the Cold Lake bitumen from the oil-saturated model in the absence of connate water. The composition of oil-wet beads in the packed bed was altered from completely water-wet beads to completely oil-wet beads at different proportions of oil-wet beads mixed with water-wet beads. A substantial increase (about 40%) in the production rate of live oil was observed during the VAPEX process when the wettability of the porous packing was entirely oil-wet beads. A critical oil-wet fraction of 0.66 was found for the heterogeneous packing of water-wet and oil-wet beads of similar size distribution. Above this critical composition, the live oil production rate was not affected by further increase in the proportion of the oil-wet beads. It is believed that above this critical composition of the oil-wet beads, the crevice flow process is dominated by the continuity of higher conductivity live oil films between particles through the oil-wet regions. Below this critical composition, the live oil production rate increased linearly with the fraction of the oil-wet beads in the packing. The oil-wet regions favor the live oil drainage compared to that of the water-wet regions as they enhance the rate of imbibition of the live oil from the oil-filled pores to the vacated pores near the nominal VAPEX interface. These two factors enhance the live oil production rate during the VAPEX process. The solvent content of the live oil, the solvent-to-oil ratio (SOR), and the residual oil saturation did not correlate strongly with the proportion of the oil-wet beads in the packing. The average solvent content of the live oil and the residual oil saturation were measured to be 48% by weight and 7% by volume respectively.     

An experimental investigation of dispersion in layered porous media

Experiments were run in three linear, homogeneous, nonuniform porous media constructed in lucite columns using spherical glass beads. The columns were also joined end to end to create an in series layered heterogeneous porous media. Each column, all combinations of columns and several permutations were studied with a factorial experimental design to determine the effects of porosity, permeability, velocity, length, and column order upon dispersion. Attempts to predict the heterogeneous results from the homogeneous results were made, and a statistical regression based on the factorial design was calculated. Results showed that no simple averaging procedure accurately predicted the heterogeneous results. The statistical regression showed permeability, velocity, viscosity, length and column order to be significant.     

In-Situ Capillary Trapping of CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> by Co-Injection

Co-injection of water with CO₂ is an effective scheme to control initial gas saturation in porous media. A fractional flow rate of water of approximately 5–10% is sufficient to reduce initial gas saturations. After water injection following the co-injection, most of the gas injected in the porous media is trapped by capillarity with a low fractional volume of migrating gas. In this study, we first derive an analytical model to predict the gas saturation levels for co-injection with water. The initial gas saturation is controlled by the fractional flow ratio in the co-injection process. Next, we experimentally investigate the effect of initial gas saturation on residual gas saturation at capillary trapping by co-injecting gas and water followed by pure water injection, using a water and nitrogen system at room temperature. Depending on relative permeability, initial gas saturation is reduced by co-injection of water. If the initial saturation in the Berea sandstone core is controlled at 20–40%, most of the gas is trapped by capillarity, and less than 20% of the gas with respect to the injected gas volume is migrated by water injection. In the packed bed of Toyoura standard sand, the initial gas saturation is approximately 20% for a wide range of gas with a fractional flow rate from 0.50 to 0.95. The residual gas saturation for these conditions is approximately 15%. Less than approximately 25% of the gas migrates by water injection. The amount of water required for co-injection systems is estimated on the basis of the analytical model and experimental results.     

Effects of Flow Velocity and Nonionic Surfactant on Colloid Straining in Saturated Porous Media Under Unfavorable Conditions

Knowledge of colloid straining mechanism in porous media is of importance for protecting groundwater from being contaminated by biocolloids (e.g., bacteria and protozoa) and by contaminants whose transport can be facilitated by mobile particles. This study examined effects of flow velocity on colloid straining in porous media under unfavorable chemical conditions. Saturated column experiments were conducted using glass beads as collector and a $3\,\mu \text{ m}$ carboxylate-modified polystyrene latex microsphere as model colloid. To unambiguously examine colloid straining mechanisms, attachment was minimized by extensively cleaning the collectors and adopting deionized water as solution. Results show that increasing flow velocity decreases colloid straining under unfavorable chemical conditions, in agreement with to theoretical finding in literature. This study additionally examined effects of nonionic surfactant (Triton X-100) on colloid straining in porous media under unfavorable chemical conditions. Results show that the addition of Triton X-100 decreases colloid straining and the decrease is enhanced by increasing the concentration of Triton X-100.     

Transport of Viruses Through Saturated and Unsaturated Columns Packed with Sand

Laboratory-scale virus transport experiments were conducted in columns packed with sand under saturated and unsaturated conditions. The viruses employed were the male-specific RNA coliphage, MS2, and the Salmonella typhimurium phage, PRD1. The mathematical model developed by Sim and Chrysikopoulos (Water Resour Res 36:173–179, 2000) that accounts for processes responsible for removal of viruses during vertical transport in one-dimensional, unsaturated porous media was used to fit the data collected from the laboratory experiments. The liquid to liquid–solid and liquid to air–liquid interface mass transfer rate coefficients were shown to increase for both bacteriophage as saturation levels were reduced. The experimental results indicate that even for unfavorable attachment conditions within a sand column (e.g., phosphate-buffered saline solution; pH = 7.5; ionic strength = 2 mM), saturation levels can affect virus transport through porous media.     

Experiments on Solute Transport in Aggregated Porous Media: Are Diffusions Within Aggregates and Hydrodynamic Dispersion Independent?

Two region models for solute transport in porous media assume that hydrodynamic dispersion in mobile water and solute diffusion within immobile water regions are independent. Experimental and theoretical results for transport through a macropore indicate that hydrodynamic dispersion and solute exchange are interdependent. Experiments were carried out to investigate this problem for a column packed with spherical porous aggregates. The effective diffusion coefficient of a tracer within the agreggates was determined from specific experiments. The dispersivity of the bed was determined from experiments carried out with a column filled with nonporous beads. We took advantage of the dependence of hydrodynamic dispersion on density ratios between the invading and displaced solutions to obtain a set of breakthrough curves corresponding to situations where the diffusion coefficient remains constant, whereas the dispersivity varies. Simulations reproduce correctly the experiments. Small discrepancies are noted that can be corrected either by increasing the dispersion coefficient or by fitting the external mass transfer coefficient. Increased dispersion coefficients probably reveal a modification of Taylor dispersion due to solute exchange. The fitted external mass transfer coefficients are close to the values obtained with classical correlations of the chemical engineering literature.     

Exploring the relationship between critical state and particle shape for granular materials

The relationship between critical state and particle shape corresponds to the most fundamental aspect of the mechanics of granular materials. This paper presents an investigation into this relationship through macro-scale and micro-scale laboratory experiments in conjunction with interpretation and analysis in the framework of critical state soil mechanics. Spherical glass beads and crushed angular glass beads of different percentages were mixed with a uniform quartz sand (Fujian sand) to create a sequence of mixtures with varying particle shape. On the micro-scale, particle shape was accurately measured using a laser scanning technique, and was characterized by aspect ratio, sphericity and convexity; a new shape index, taken as the average of the three shape measures and referred to as overall regularity, was proposed to provide a collective characterization of particle shape. On the macro-scale, both undrained and drained triaxial tests were carried out to provide evidence that varying particle shape can alter the overall response as well as the critical states in both stress space and volumetric compression space. The mixtures of Fujian sand and spherical glass beads were found to be markedly more susceptible to liquefaction than the mixtures of Fujian sand and crushed angular glass beads. The change in liquefaction susceptibility was shown to be consistent with the change in the position of the critical state locus (CSL) in the compression space, manifested by a decrease in the intercept and gradient of the CSL due to the presence of spherical glass beads. Quantitative relationships have been established between each of the critical state parameters and each of the shape parameters, thereby providing a way to construct macro-scale constitutive models with intrinsic micro-scale properties built in.     

Flow behaviour in the presence of wettability heterogeneities

The physical processes occurring during fluid flow and displacement within porous media having wettability heterogeneities have been investigated in specially designed heterogeneous visual models. The models were packed with glass beads, areas of which were treated with a water repellent to create wettability variations. Immiscible displacement experiments show visually the effect of wettability heterogeneities on the formation of residual oil and recovery due to capillary trapping. This work demonstrates by experiment the importance of incorporating reservoir heterogeneity into pore displacement analysis, essential for the correct interpretation of core data and for directing the route for scale-up of the processes to reservoir scale.     

Experimental Investigation and Modelling of Colloidal Release in Porous Media

Gas production from underground storage reservoirs is sometimes associated with solid particles eroded from the rock matrix. This phenomenon often called sand production can cause damage to the storage equipments, leading the operator to choke the wells and prevent them from producing at full capacity. Colloid release is often associated as a precursor of larger solid production. Indeed, in sandstone storage sites, clay release induced by the presence of condensed water associated with the gas production in the near-wellbore region can be a forecast of intergranular cement erosion. The objective of this work is twofold: firstly to experimentally investigate colloidal particle detachment through ionic strength reduction (absence of salinity of the condensed water) in porous media and secondly to determine its evolution with time and to model it. Laboratory experiments with model systems are developed to reproduce the particle generation and their transport in porous media. The model porous medium is a packed column of two powders: silicon carbide particles of 50 μm and silica particles of 0.5 μm (3% by weight) initially mixed together. Brine flows at different concentrations are imposed through the porous sample and, at very low salt concentration, colloid silica particles are massively released from the medium. Experimental evolutions of the particle concentration with time are compared to solutions of the advection–dispersion equation including first-order source terms for colloid release. The dispersion coefficients of the porous medium have been determined with tracer tests. The experimental results exhibit a different behaviour at short- and long-time intervals and a model has been built to predict the colloid production evolution with the introduction of two different time scales for the eroded rate. The model can be used in a core test to evaluate the amount of detachable fines and the rate of erosion.     

An analysis of species separation in a thermogravitational column filled with a porous medium

In the past, the analysis of species separation in a thermogravitational column filled with porous media has been based on strong dependency of thermal and molecular diffusion to dispersion. In this work, we suggest an alternative and show that the dispersion effect is negligible for the conditions in a packed hermogravitational column and that compositional dependency of the thermal diffusion should be accounted for.     

Laboratory observation of nonlocal dispersion

This work presents the results of a one-dimensional experimental investigation of contaminant transport in heterogeneous porous media. The usual transport equations fail to adequately predict dispersion in such systems, and new theories to account for the distinctions have not yet been examined experimentally. We use a one-dimensional porous media which is heterogeneous on the scale of observation to determine if the phenomena predicted by the new theories are observable.The experimental media are constructed from distinct layers of spherical glass beads packed into cylindrical columns of Lucite. Flow was in the direction perpendicular to the layers. Dispersion was measured by recording the concentration of a chloride tracer as a function of time and position. The scale of measurement was finer than the scale of the heterogeneity. The results show that the mixing between miscible fluids was affected by transitions in the system parameters, before the transitions were encountered by the mixing zone. This newly observed phenomenon has been interpreted as a nonlocal effect, and it begins to verify the new predictive theories.     

Surface Permeability of Particulate Porous Media

The dispersion process in particulate porous media at low saturation levels takes place over the surface elements of constituent particles and, as we have found previously by comparison with experiments, can be accurately described by superfast nonlinear diffusion partial differential equations. To enhance the predictive power of the mathematical model in practical applications, one requires the knowledge of the effective surface permeability of the particle-in-contact ensemble, which can be directly related with the macroscopic permeability of the particulate media. We have shown previously that permeability of a single particulate element can be accurately determined through the solution of the Laplace–Beltrami Dirichlet boundary value problem. Here, we demonstrate how that methodology can be applied to study permeability of a randomly packed ensemble of interconnected particles. Using surface finite element techniques, we examine numerical solutions to the Laplace–Beltrami problem set in the multiply-connected domains of interconnected particles. We are able to directly estimate tortuosity effects of the surface flows in the particle ensemble setting.

     

Impact of Rock Heterogeneity on Interactions of Microbial-Enhanced Oil Recovery Processes

Residual oil saturation reduction and microbial plugging are two crucial factors in microbial-enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) processes. In our previous study, the residual saturation was defined as a nonlinear function of the trapping number, and an explicit relation between the residual oil saturation and the trapping number was incorporated into a fully coupled biological (B) and hydrological (H) finite element model. In this study, the BH model is extended to consider the impact of rock heterogeneity on microbial-enhanced oil recovery phenomena. Numerical simulations of core flooding experiments are performed to demonstrate the influences of different parameters controlling the onset of oil mobilization. X-ray CT core scans are used to construct numerical porosity-permeability distributions for input to the simulations. Results show clear fine-scale fingering processing, and that trapping phenomena have significant effects on residual oil saturation and oil recovery in heterogeneous porous media. Water contents and bacterial distributions for heterogeneous porous media are compared with those for homogenous porous media. The evolution of the trapping number distribution is directly simulated and visualized. It is shown that the oil recovery efficiency of EOR/MEOR will be lower in heterogeneous media than in homogeneous media, largely due to the difficulty in supplying surfactant to unswept low-permeability zones. However, MEOR also provides efficient plugging along high-permeability zones which acts to increase sweep efficiency in heterogeneous media. Thus, MEOR may potentially be more suited for highly heterogeneous media than conventional EOR.     

Wettability Alteration to Intermediate Gas-Wetting in Porous Media at Elevated Temperatures

Wettability alteration to intermediate gas-wetting in porous media by treatment with FC-759, a fluorochemical polymer has been studied experimentally. Berea sandstone was used as the main rock sample in our work, and its wettability before and after chemical treatment was studied at various temperatures from 25 to 93°C. We also studied recovery performance for both gas/oil and oil/water systems for Berea sandstone before and after wettability alteration by chemical treatment. Our experiment shows that chemical treatment with FC-759 can result in: (1) wettability alteration from strong liquid-wetting to stable intermediate gas-wetting at room temperature and at elevated temperatures; (2) neutral wetting for gas, oil, and water phases in two-phase flow; (3) significant increase in oil mobility for gas/oil system; and (4) improved recovery behavior for both gas/oil and oil/water systems. This work reveals a potential for field application for improved gas-well deliverability and well injectivity by altering the rock wettability around wellbore in gas condensate reservoirs from strong liquid-wetting to intermediate gas-wetting.