Nonwetting droplet oscillation and displacement by viscoelastic fluids

Xie, Chiyu; Xu, Ke; Mohanty, Kishore K.; Wang, Moran; Balhoff, Matthew T.

doi:10.1103/physrevfluids.5.063301

Cited by 23 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…To describe the impact of the polymer viscoelastic effect on the microscopic oil displacement effect more accurately, scholars worldwide have used different methods and theories to study the viscoelasticity of polymers [ 26 , 27 , 28 ]. The elastic effect of a compound solution is mainly investigated through experiments that have attracted substantial attention.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Polymer Viscoelasticity on Microscopic Remaining Oil Production

et al. 2022

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To investigate the impact of polymer viscoelasticity on microscopic remaining oil production, this study used microscopic oil displacement visualisation technology, numerical simulations in PolyFlow software, and core seepage experiments to study the viscoelasticity of polymers and their elastic effects in porous media. We analysed the forces affecting the microscopic remaining oil in different directions, and the influence of polymer viscoelasticity on the displacement efficiency of microscopic remaining oil. The results demonstrated that the greater the viscosity of the polymer, the greater the deformation and the higher the elasticity proportion. In addition, during the creep recovery experiment at low speed, the polymer solution was mainly viscous, while at high speed it was mainly elastic. When the polymer viscosity reached 125 mPa·s, the core effective permeability reached 100 × 10−3 μm2, and the equivalent shear rate exceeded 1000 s−1, the polymer exhibited an elastic effect in the porous medium and the viscosity curve displayed an ‘upward’ phenomenon. Moreover, the difference in the normal deviatoric stress and horizontal stress acting on the microscopic remaining oil increased exponentially as the viscosity of the polymer increased. The greater the viscosity of the polymer, the greater the remaining oil deformation. During the microscopic visualisation flooding experiment, the viscosity of the polymer, the scope of the mainstream line, and the recovery factor all increased. The scope of spread in the shunt line area significantly increased, but the recovery factor was significantly lower than that in the mainstream line. The amount of remaining oil in the unaffected microscopic area also decreased.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Polymer Viscoelasticity on Microscopic Remaining Oil Production

et al. 2022

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“…The observed residual fluid redistribution can be related to the flow field fluctuation or ganglia oscillation during viscoelastic flow as demonstrated in 2D micromodel experiments (Clarke et al., 2015) and by pore‐scale simulation in a pore‐throat geometry (Xie et al., 2020). The correlation of neighboring pores (e.g., the pore spacing) may contribute to the ganglion redistribution and mobilization within and between pores, by forming unstable eddies in the corners of the pore bodies under unstable flow with proper pore spacing (Browne et al., 2020a).…”

Section: Analysis and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…Periodic oil droplet oscillation was observed when oil was displaced by viscoelastic polymer solutions in a contraction‐expansion single channel geometry, which was hypothesized to contribute to residual oil saturation reduction (Qi, 2018). Pore‐scale, lattice Boltzmann simulations also showed that residual droplets can be oscillating as the flow streamlines become chaotic and form vortices that may finally recover the droplet (Xie et al., 2020). Residual ganglia fluctuation and mobilization caused by viscoelastic displacing fluids were observed in micromodels with a two‐dimensional (2D) pore‐network (Clarke et al., 2016; Mitchell et al., 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Coreflood‐on‐a‐Chip Study of Viscoelasticity's Effect on Reducing Residual Saturation in Porous Media

Mejía

et al. 2021

Water Resources Research

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Polymer aqueous solutions are widely used in nonaqueous phase liquid recovery and aquifer remediation processes due to their high viscosity. Additional reduction of residual saturation by polymer's viscoelasticity has recently been discovered which elevates the ultimate displacement efficiency. However, there is no consensus on how, and under what conditions, viscoelasticity reduces residual saturation. This is in part because most studies utilize relatively low salinity and high viscosity, which also contribute to higher recoveries. We separate the effects of viscosity, elasticity and salinity, by performing microfluidic experiments in long (30 cm) heterogeneous glass micromodels (coreflood‐on‐a‐chip). In the experiments, a highly viscous Newtonian aqueous phase flood is first performed so that the system reaches residual saturation, followed by polymer flood with varying elasticity and salinity. This is followed by another highly viscous Newtonian aqueous phase flood. We observe significant redistribution and reconnection of residual ganglia due to viscoelasticity induced instabilities during high‐viscoelasticity polymer floods, which results in residual ganglia remobilization that ultimately reduces residual saturation. In contrast, no fluid redistribution and saturation reduction are observed in low‐viscoelasticity polymer floods. During low salinity polymer floods (regardless of the relative elasticity), spontaneous emulsification occurs inside ganglia and results in ganglia swelling, which enhances ganglia reconnection when elastic instability happens, therefore amplifies the residual saturation reduction.

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“…A common approach to handling the polymer interaction with the flow at a macroscopic scale is to represent the polymer contribution to the stress tensor by means of a closed-form, "constitutive" equation; thus, e.g., the work of Yue et al [20][21][22] on drop deformation and complex two-phase flow using a diffuse-interface method and constitutive modeling; in [23], Pillapakkam employed an LS method to study rising bubbles in viscoelastic media, while Foteinopoulou and Laso [24] used a Phan-Thien--Tanner model together with an elliptic mesh-deformation algorithm to investigate bubble oscillation; Castillo et al proposed an LS method with a pressure-enriched FE space to study the two-fluid flow problem along with a Giesekus model for the polymeric liquid [25]; Fraggedakis et al [26] characterized the critical volume of a bubble rising in a viscoelastic fluid using an FEM-based method and the exponential Phan-Thien and Tanner model; using a coupled LS-VOF ("VOSET") method, Wang et al [27] studied drag reduction in cavity flow; Xie et al [28] focused on droplet oscillation under a Maxwell model using lattice Boltzmann techniques. In contrast to constitutive modeling, the "micro-macro" approach [29] tackles the polymer-flow interaction using stochastic and Brownian Dynamics (BD) simulations [30][31][32][33] to retrieve the polymer stress tensor from the internal configurations of the polymer particles advected by the flow.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[ 27 ] studied drag reduction in cavity flow; Xie et al. [ 28 ] focused on droplet oscillation under a Maxwell model using lattice Boltzmann techniques. In contrast to constitutive modeling, the “micro-macro” approach [ 29 ] tackles the polymer-flow interaction using stochastic and Brownian Dynamics (BD) simulations [ 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ] to retrieve the polymer stress tensor from the internal configurations of the polymer particles advected by the flow.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Viscoelastic Effects on Drop Deformation Using a Machine Learning-Enhanced, Finite Element method

Prieto

2020

Polymers

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This paper presents a numerical study of the viscoelastic effects on drop deformation under two configurations of interest: steady shear flow and complex flow under gravitational effects. We use a finite element method along with Brownian dynamics simulation techniques that avoid the use of closed-form, constitutive equations for the “micro-”scale, studying the viscoelastic effects on drop deformation using an interface capturing technique. The method can be enhanced with a variance-reduced approach to the stochastic modeling, along with machine learning techniques to reconstruct the shape of the polymer stress tensor in complex problems where deformations can be dramatic. The results highlight the effects of viscoelasticity on shape, the polymer stress tensor, and flow streamlines under the analyzed configurations.

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Nonwetting droplet oscillation and displacement by viscoelastic fluids

Cited by 23 publications

References 37 publications

Influence of Polymer Viscoelasticity on Microscopic Remaining Oil Production

Influence of Polymer Viscoelasticity on Microscopic Remaining Oil Production

A Coreflood‐on‐a‐Chip Study of Viscoelasticity's Effect on Reducing Residual Saturation in Porous Media

Viscoelastic Effects on Drop Deformation Using a Machine Learning-Enhanced, Finite Element method

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