Uniqueness of Specific Interfacial Area–Capillary Pressure–Saturation Relationship Under Non-Equilibrium Conditions in Two-Phase Porous Media Flow
Type
ArticleKAUST Grant Number
KUK-C1-017-12Date
2012-02-23Online Publication Date
2012-02-23Print Publication Date
2012-09Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/600137
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The capillary pressure-saturation (P c-S w) relationship is one of the central constitutive relationships used in two-phase flow simulations. There are two major concerns regarding this relation. These concerns are partially studied in a hypothetical porous medium using a dynamic pore-network model called DYPOSIT, which has been employed and extended for this study: (a) P c-S w relationship is measured empirically under equilibrium conditions. It is then used in Darcy-based simulations for all dynamic conditions. This is only valid if there is a guarantee that this relationship is unique for a given flow process (drainage or imbibition) independent of dynamic conditions; (b) It is also known that P c-S w relationship is flow process dependent. Depending on drainage and imbibition, different curves can be achieved, which are referred to as "hysteresis". A thermodynamically derived theory (Hassanizadeh and Gray, Water Resour Res 29: 3389-3904, 1993a) suggests that, by introducing a new state variable, called the specific interfacial area (a nw, defined as the ratio of fluid-fluid interfacial area to the total volume of the domain), it is possible to define a unique relation between capillary pressure, saturation, and interfacial area. This study investigates these two aspects of capillary pressure-saturation relationship using a dynamic pore-network model. The simulation results imply that P c-S w relation not only depends on flow process (drainage and imbibition) but also on dynamic conditions for a given flow process. Moreover, this study attempts to obtain the first preliminary insights into the global functionality of capillary pressure-saturation-interfacial area relationship under equilibrium and non-equilibrium conditions and the uniqueness of P c-S w-a nw relationship. © 2012 The Author(s).Citation
Joekar-Niasar V, Hassanizadeh SM (2012) Uniqueness of Specific Interfacial Area–Capillary Pressure–Saturation Relationship Under Non-Equilibrium Conditions in Two-Phase Porous Media Flow. Transport in Porous Media 94: 465–486. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11242-012-9958-3.Sponsors
The authors are members of the International Research Training Group NUPUS, financed by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). This research was also partly funded by a King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Center-in-Development Award to Utrecht University (Grant No. KUK-C1-017-12).Publisher
Springer NatureJournal
Transport in Porous Mediaae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1007/s11242-012-9958-3