Dynamics of Flow Through Porous Media with Unsteady Phase Permeabilities

The influence of nonequilibrium effects developing due to the formation of an emulsion of each phase (gas bubbles in the water and water dust in the gas) on the flow dynamics is investigated with reference to the displacement of water by a gas. The nonequilibrium effects manifest themselves in a change in the shape of the phase permeability curves (they become convex) and the threshold phase saturations in the course of flow through the porous medium. A kinetic equation in which the relaxation time is proportional to the seepage rate is used to describe such effects. The case in which the liquid displaced by the gas is itself gassed and the volume concentration of the gas bubbles is constant is considered.