Design, Fabrication, and Experimental Validation of Microfluidic Devices for the Investigation of Pore-Scale Phenomena in Underground Gas Storage Systems

Abstract

The understanding of multiphase flow phenomena occurring in porous media at the pore scale is fundamental in a significant number of fields, from life science to geo and environmental engineering. However, because of the optical opacity and the geometrical complexity of natural porous media, detailed visual characterization is not possible or is limited and requires powerful and expensive imaging techniques. As a consequence, the understanding of micro-scale behavior is based on the interpretation of macro-scale parameters and indirect measurements. Microfluidic devices are transparent and synthetic tools that reproduce the porous network on a 2D plane, enabling the direct visualization of the fluid dynamics. Moreover, microfluidic patterns (also called micromodels) can be specifically designed according to research interests by tuning their geometrical features and surface properties. In this work we design, fabricate and test two different micromodels for the visualization and analysis of the gas-brine fluid flow, occurring during gas injection and withdrawal in underground storage systems. In particular, we compare two different designs: a regular grid and a real rock-like pattern reconstructed from a thin section of a sample of Hostun rock. We characterize the two media in terms of porosity, tortuosity and pore size distribution using the A* algorithm and CFD simulation. We fabricate PDMS-glass devices via soft lithography, and we perform preliminary air-water displacement tests at different capillary numbers to observe the impact of the design on the fluid dynamics. This preliminary work serves as a validation of design and fabrication procedures and opens the way to further investigations.

Penetration Coefficients of Commercial Nanolimes and a Liquid Mineral Precursor for Pore-Imitating Test Systems—Predictability of Infiltration Behavior

“…A possible solution to the described methodical gap was presented by us in 2017, in the form of an artificial pore-imitating microcomb test system (MCTS) [ 29 ]. It constituted a new example of so-called micromodels which have been utilized extensively in the literature [ 24 , 30 ] and enable the direct visualization of pore-scale processes relevant to different porous media [ 31 , 32 ]. Their ability to directly monitor infiltration, drying, and (re)crystallization processes in confined geometries and real time using light microscopy was demonstrated by Gruber and Wolf et al (2017), using an aqueous calcium phosphate crystallization solution [ 29 ].…”