No abstract

We study numerically and experimentally the displacement of a liquid by a gas in a two-dimensional model porous medium. In contrast with previous pore network studies on drainage in porous media, the gas pressurization is fully taken into account. The influence of the gas injection rate on the displacement pattern, breakthrough time and the evolution of the pressure in the gas phase due in part to gas compressibility are investigated. A good agreement is found between the simulations and the experiments as regards the invasion patterns. The agreement is also good on the drainage kinetics when the dynamic liquid films are taken into account.