In this study a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method has been developed to simulate the effect of pore morphology and its distribution in a 2D micromodel on the enhanced oil recovery factor of nanofluid flooding. Seven types of micromodel with different schematics and pore shapes were considered. SiO 2 nanoparticles, dispersed in distilled water, were used for the preparation of the nanofluid and flooding operation. To generate the desirable porous media, the geometries of the micromodels were generated using the commercial grid generation tool, Gambit 2.3. Then, the momentum and mass transport equations were solved based on the finite volume method using the Fluent 6.3 software to investigate the displacement of oil at the pore scale. In order to better understand the nanoparticles' effects and to confirm the validity of the CFD simulations, numerical results have been compared with the experimental data. The influences of some parameters such as heterogeneity of pores, connectivity of pores with or without throat line, tortuosity and pore shape on the enhanced oil recovery, breakthrough time and fluid trapping in the porous media were investigated. From the results, it has been found that random generation of pore distribution illustrates better results compared to homogeneous pore distribution. In addition, with the presence of nanoparticles in the injected fluid the number of fingers decreases. The fingering effect has the main effect on the oil recovery factor with a lower fingering effect having a higher recovery factor. So, in the homogeneous pattern the nanofluid flow in the porous media is uniform and symmetric. But in the random distribution model, the fluid flow is more realistic and similar to the fluid flow in reservoirs.

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Nowadays, because of the reduction in oil resources and the passage of the first and second life period of current reservoirs, using enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods is of great importance. In recent years, due to the developments in technology and the advent of powerful computers, using simulation methods in enhanced oil recovery processes is on the rise. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method, as a branch of fluid mechanics, is a suitable method for studying and simulating EOR methods. In this study, a review was done on the application of CFD studies for simulating EOR methods. Also, potentials for future studies and the challenges researchers may face in this method were mentioned. Although using this method in enhanced oil recovery processes has recently started, different areas for more studies still exist. To optimize the usage of this method in future studies, the necessity of multiphase models and solution methods development, as well as considering all microscopic parameters such as interfacial tension and viscosity in investigating oil recovery factor is of great importance.

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