A Dynamic Network Simulator for Immiscible Two-Phase Flow in Porous Media

Abstract

We present in detail a set of algorithms to carry out fluid displacements in a dynamic pore-network model of immiscible two-phase flow in porous media. The algorithms are general and applicable to regular and irregular pore networks in two and three dimensions with different boundary conditions. Implementing these sets of algorithms, we describe a dynamic pore-network model and reproduce some of the fundamental properties of both the transient and steady-state two-phase flow. During drainage displacements, we show that the model can reproduce the flow patterns corresponding to viscous fingering, capillary fingering and stable displacement by altering the capillary number and the viscosity ratio. In steady-state flow, the model verifies the linear to non-linear transition of the effective rheological properties and satisfy the relations between the seepage velocities of two-phase flow in porous media.

arXiv comment24 pages, 17 figures

References in corpus (5)

• Growth activity during fingering in a porous Hele Shaw cell
• Macroscopic Equations of Motion for Two Phase Flow in Porous Media
• Stable and efficient time integration of a dynamic pore network model for two-phase flow in porous media
• Effective rheology of two-phase flow in a capillary fiber bundle model
• Local Wettability Reversal during Steady-State Two-Phase Flow in Porous Media