Geometric singular perturbation analysis of oxidation heat pulses for two-phase flow in porous media

When air or oxygen is injected into a petroleum reservoir, and oxidation or combustion is induced, a combustion front forms if heat loss to the surrounding rock formation is negligible. Here, we employ a simple model for combustion, which takes into account oil viscosity reduction, but neglects gas density dependence on temperature and uses a simplified oxidation reaction. We show that for small heat loss, this combustion front is actually the lead part of a pulse, while the trailing part of the pulse is a slow cooling process. If the heat loss is too large, we show that such a pulse does not exist. The proofs use geometric singular perturbation theory and center manifold reduction.Dedicated to Constantine Dafermos on his 60^th birthdayThis work was supported in part by: CNPq under Grant 300204/83-3; CNPq/NSF under Grant 91.0011/99-0; MCT under Grant PCI 650009/97-5; FINEP under Grant 77.97.0315.00; FAPERJ under Grants E-26/150.936/99 and E-26/151.893/2000; NSF under Grant DMS-9973105.