Transport and Clogging of Particulate Flow in Fracture Systems
- City College of New York, NY (United States)
The aim of the project is to understand the effects of confinement in narrow rough-walled fractures on the transport behavior of fluids and suspended particles in subsurface hydro- carbon reservoirs. A key motivation for the study is that such fracture systems provide the highest throughput in oil and gas extraction and have been the focus of recent industrial activity. The scientific challenge is to understand how the confined geometry alters transport phenomena, and in particular its influence on (diagnostic) tracer transport and the effects of flow channeling and clogging on fluid motion. An important complicating feature of geological fractures is the self-affine fractal nature of their surface roughness, leading to irregular but correlated fluid and particle motion. The key technique used is computer simulation, augmented by analytical calculations and collaboration with outside experimental colleagues when possible. The principal topics studied were fluid permeability, tracer dispersion, flow channeling and anisotropy, particle transport in narrow channels and particle trapping in tight fractures.
- Research Organization:
- Research Foundation of the City University of New York, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG02-06ER15817
- OSTI ID:
- 1349518
- Report Number(s):
- final report
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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