An experimental investigation of gas-bubble breakup in constricted square capillaries
Recent advances in EOR involve generating foam within underground porous media to displace the oil. The authors investigate the important snap-off mechanism of gas-bubble generation in constricted square capillaries experimentally. The snap-off of smaller bubbles from a larger bubble as it moves through the constriction is recorded on 16-mm movies. The time required for bubbles to snap off once they move past the constriction and the length of the generated bubbles are obtained from viewing the movie frames. The bubble capillary number, ..mu..upsilon/sub T//sigma, is varied from 10/sup -5/ to 5 x 10/sup -3/ by adjusting the wetting-fluid viscosity, ..mu.., and the surface tension, sigma, by adding aqueous surfactants to mixtures of glycerol and water, and by altering the bubble velocity, upsilon/sub T/. Results show that a dimensionless time to snap-off depends weakly on the capillary number and that the generated bubble size increases almost linearly with increasing capillary number. Surfactants create dynamically immobile interfaces for surfactant solutions of 1 wt% sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS) and Chevron Chaser SD1000. Compared with the surfactant-free solutions, the time to breakup with surfactants increases by a factor of about 3; generated bubble length increases by a factor of at most 3.
- Research Organization:
- Chevron Oil Field Research Co., La Habra, CA
- OSTI ID:
- 5922798
- Journal Information:
- J. Pet. Technol.; (United States), Vol. 39:9
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
DISPLACEMENT FLUIDS
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
HYDRODYNAMICS
SURFACTANTS
OIL WELLS
WATERFLOODING
ADDITIVES
AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS
BENZENE
BUBBLES
CAPILLARY FLOW
DODECYL RADICALS
ENHANCED RECOVERY
GLYCEROL
NATURAL GAS
PETROLEUM
SULFONATES
VISCOSITY
WELL STIMULATION
ALCOHOLS
ALKYL RADICALS
AROMATICS
DISPERSIONS
ENERGY SOURCES
FLUID FLOW
FLUID INJECTION
FLUID MECHANICS
FLUIDS
FOSSIL FUELS
FUEL GAS
FUELS
GAS FUELS
GASES
HYDROCARBONS
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
MECHANICS
MIXTURES
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC SULFUR COMPOUNDS
RADICALS
RECOVERY
SOLUTIONS
STIMULATION
WELLS
020300* - Petroleum- Drilling & Production