Influence of dynamic factors on nonwetting fluid snap-off in pores

Deng, Wen; Balhoff, Matthew; Cardenas, M. Bayani

doi:10.1002/2015WR017261

Title: Influence of dynamic factors on nonwetting fluid snap-off in pores

Journal Article · Thu Nov 05 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Water Resources Research

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2015WR017261· OSTI ID:1370954

Deng, Wen ^[1]; Balhoff, Matthew ^[2]; Cardenas, M. Bayani ^[3]

Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States). Dept. of Geological Sciences; Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States). Dept. of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering; Missouri Univ. of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO (United States). Dept. of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering
Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States). Dept. of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering
Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States). Dept. of Geological Sciences

Snap-off is an important dynamic multiphase flow phenomenon which occurs in porous media. It plays a dominant role in the residual trapping and mobilization/immobilization of nonwetting fluids such as hydrocarbons or CO₂. Current studies, applications, and threshold criteria of snap-off are mostly based on static or equilibrium conditions. Thus, the dynamics of snap-off which is relevant for many real world applications has rarely been systematically studied. While a static criterion indicates the snap-off potential for nonwetting fluids, the competition between the time required for snap-off and the local pore throat capillary number determines whether snap-off actually occurs. Using a theoretical model to couple the wetting film thickness to the local capillary number at the pore throat, we analyzed the dynamics of the wetting/nonwetting interface instability in sinusoidally constricted capillary tubes. The influence of dynamic factors as encapsulated by the effect of local capillary number on nonwetting fluid snap-off time were investigated for varying pore throat to pore body aspect ratio and pore body distances. Finally, the analysis showed that snap-off can be inhibited by a sufficiently large local capillary number even in cases where the static snap-off criterion has been met.

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Research Organization:: Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC), Washington D.C. (United States). Center for Frontiers of Subsurface Energy Security (CFSES)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0001114

OSTI ID:: 1370954

Journal Information:: Water Resources Research, Vol. 51, Issue 11; Related Information: CFSES partners with University of Texas at Austin (lead); Sandia National Laboratory; ISSN 0043-1397

Publisher:: American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 27 works

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A semi-analytical model research of liquid collar shape and coalescence in pore throat during snap-off Meng, Ye; Li, Xiangfang; He, Minxia Arabian Journal of Geosciences, Vol. 12, Issue 15 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-019-4613-8	journal	July 2019
Topological Persistence for Relating Microstructure and Capillary Fluid Trapping in Sandstones Herring, A. L.; Robins, V.; Sheppard, A. P. Water Resources Research, Vol. 55, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1029/2018wr022780	journal	January 2019
Factors Influencing Dynamic Nonequilibrium Effects in Drainage Processes of an Air‐Water Two‐Phase Fine Sandy Medium Li, Jing; He, Xinya; Li, Chengfeng Water Resources Research, Vol. 55, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1029/2018wr023034	journal	March 2019
Characterization of Transport-Enhanced Phase Separation in Porous Media Using a Lattice-Boltzmann Method Parmigiani, Andrea; Di Palma, Paolo Roberto; Leclaire, Sébastien Geofluids, Vol. 2019 https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/5176410	journal	May 2019
Characterization of Transport-Enhanced Phase Separation in Porous Media Using a Lattice-Boltzmann Method Parmigiani, Andrea; Di Palma, Paolo R.; Leclaire, Sébastien ETH Zurich https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000346884	text	January 2019

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