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Self-adaptive preferential flow control using displacing fluid with dispersed polymers in heterogeneous porous media

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2020

Chiyu Xie Open the ORCID record for Chiyu Xie [Opens in a new window] ,
Wenhai Lei ,
Matthew T. Balhoff ,
Moran Wang Open the ORCID record for Moran Wang [Opens in a new window]  and
Shiyi Chen
Chiyu Xie
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua University, Beijing100084, PR China Center for Subsurface Energy and the Environment, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX78712, USA
Wenhai Lei
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua University, Beijing100084, PR China
Matthew T. Balhoff
Affiliation:
Center for Subsurface Energy and the Environment, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX78712, USA Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX78712, USA
Moran Wang*
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua University, Beijing100084, PR China
Shiyi Chen
Affiliation:
Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen518055, PR China State Laboratory of Turbulence and Complex System, Peking University, Beijing100871, PR China
*
†Email address for correspondence: mrwang@tsinghua.edu.cn
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Abstract

Preferential flow that leads to non-uniform displacement, especially in heterogeneous porous media, is usually unwelcome in most practical processes. We propose a self-adaptive preferential flow control mechanism by using dispersed polymers, which is supported strongly by experimental and numerical evidence. Our experiments are performed on a microchip with heterogeneous porous structures where oil is displaced by dispersed polymer microsphere particles. Even though the size of the particles is much smaller than the pore-throat size, the diversion effect by the dispersed microspheres is still proved. Therefore, the plugging effect is not the major mechanism for preferential flow control by dispersed polymers. The mechanisms are further investigated by pore-scale modelling, which indicates that the dispersed polymers exhibit an adaption ability to pressure and resistance in the porous flow field. In such an intelligent way, the displacing fluid with dispersed polymers smartly controls the preferential flow by inducing pressure fluctuations, and demonstrates better performance in both efficiency and economic aspects than the traditional method by simply increasing the viscosity. These insights can be applied to improve techniques in the field, such as enhanced oil recovery and soil wetting.

JFM classification

Low-Reynolds-number flows: Porous media Low-Reynolds-number flows: Low-Reynolds-number flows Multiphase and Particle-laden Flows: Multiphase flow
Type
JFM Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 906 , 10 January 2021 , A10
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Supplementary material: Image

Xie et al. supplementary movie 1

Movie 1 is the dynamic video of FIG.2 (a): DI water flooding in the microfluidic chip.
Download Xie et al. supplementary movie 1(Image)
Image 21.3 MB
Supplementary material: Image

Xie et al. supplementary movie 2

Movie 2 is the dynamic video of FIG.2 (b): dispersed polymer flooding in the microfluidic chip.

Download Xie et al. supplementary movie 2(Image)
Image 31.4 MB
Supplementary material: Image

Xie et al. supplementary movie 3

Movie 3 is the dynamic video of FIG.4 (a): continuous water flooding processes.
Download Xie et al. supplementary movie 3(Image)
Image 10.8 MB
Supplementary material: Image

Xie et al. supplementary movie 4

Movie 4 is the dynamic video of FIG.4 (b): continuous polymer flooding processes.
Download Xie et al. supplementary movie 4(Image)
Image 10.6 MB
Supplementary material: Image

Xie et al. supplementary movie 5

Movie 5 is the dynamic video of FIG.4 (c): dispersed polymer flooding processes.
Download Xie et al. supplementary movie 5(Image)
Image 14.1 MB
Supplementary material: Image

Xie et al. supplementary movie 6

Movie 6 is the dynamic video of FIG.5 (a): the pressure distribution evolution during continuous water flooding.
Download Xie et al. supplementary movie 6(Image)
Image 6.7 MB
Supplementary material: Image

Xie et al. supplementary movie 7

Movie 7 is the dynamic video of FIG.5 (b): the pressure distribution evolution during continuous polymer flooding.
Download Xie et al. supplementary movie 7(Image)
Image 8 MB
Supplementary material: Image

Xie et al. supplementary movie 8

Movie 8 is the dynamic video of FIG.5 (c): the pressure distribution evolution during dispersed polymer flooding.

Download Xie et al. supplementary movie 8(Image)
Image 8.1 MB