Dynamic stability of a foam lamella flowing through a periodically constricted tube

Conference · Sun May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1988 · Am. Chem. Soc., Div. Pet. Chem., Prepr.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6520667

Jimenez, A I; Radke, C J ^[1]

---

1. Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Univ. of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA (US)

Experimental studies of foam flow in two dimensional, water-wet, porous medium micro-models reveal the importance of the capillary pressure of the medium upon the existence of foam in a given porous medium. Preformed foam injected into a dry medium simply cannot enter until it breaks and the released liquid imbibes into the small pores. This coalescence process increases the medium liquid saturation and reduces the capillary pressure according to a typical Leverett function. Upon reaching high enough liquid saturation, foam then flows into the micro-model. On the other hand, if foam is injected into a previously surfactant solution saturated medium, it immediately flows to a steady state. It has also been observed in studies of foam flow in partially liquid saturated bead packs and sand packs that breakage occurs if the gas superficial velocity is increased sufficiently. For a porous medium with a given permeability and saturation (and corresponding capillary pressure) there is a critical gas velocity above which lamellae rupture. Similarly, if the capillary pressure is increased at a given velocity of flow, lamellae will rupture. Others have measured this critical capillary pressure of foam coalescence for bead packs of permeabilities ranging from 72 to 8970 ..mu..m/sup 2/ and various surfactant formulations. This paper introduces a hydrodynamic theory that explains the foam breakage phenomena described above by analyzing the stability of a single foam lamella flowing through a periodically constricted sinusoidal pore.

• OSTI ID: 6520667
• Report Number(s): CONF-880659-
• Journal Information: Am. Chem. Soc., Div. Pet. Chem., Prepr.; (United States), Journal Name: Am. Chem. Soc., Div. Pet. Chem., Prepr.; (United States) Vol. 33:1; ISSN ACPCA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020300* -- Petroleum-- Drilling & Production
CAPILLARY FLOW
COLLOIDS
CRITICAL VELOCITY
DATA
DISPERSIONS
ENHANCED RECOVERY
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FLUID FLOW
FLUID INJECTION
FLUID MECHANICS
FOAMS
HYDRODYNAMICS
INFORMATION
MATERIALS
MECHANICS
MICROEMULSION FLOODING
MISCIBLE-PHASE DISPLACEMENT
NUMERICAL DATA
PERMEABILITY
POROUS MATERIALS
RECOVERY
RESERVOIR PRESSURE
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
VELOCITY