Two-dimensional hydrodynamic lattice-gas simulations of binary immiscible and ternary amphiphilic fluid flow through porous media

Abstract

The behaviour of two dimensional binary and ternary amphiphilic fluids under flow conditions is investigated using a hydrodynamic lattice gas model. After the validation of the model in simple cases (Poiseuille flow, Darcy's law for single component fluids), attention is focussed on the properties of binary immiscible fluids in porous media. An extension of Darcy's law which explicitly admits a viscous coupling between the fluids is verified, and evidence of capillary effects are described. The influence of a third component, namely surfactant, is studied in the same context. Invasion simulations have also been performed. The effect of the applied force on the invasion process is reported. As the forcing level increases, the invasion process becomes faster and the residual oil saturation decreases. The introduction of surfactant in the invading phase during imbibition produces new phenomena, including emulsification and micellisation. At very low fluid forcing levels, this leads to

Three-dimensional hydrodynamic lattice-gas simulations of binary immiscible and ternary amphiphilic flow through porous media

“…Invasion into such a porous medium is referred to as imbibition, from the medium's natural tendency to imbibe the wetting fluid even in the absence of forcing. These simulations extend work performed in two dimensions by Coveney et al and Maillet and Coveney ͓14,15͔. We vary two parameters in the invasion study, the fluid forcing level, and the fraction of surfactant in the invasive fluid. The range of input forcing is limited by two constraints.…”

A three–dimensional lattice–gas model for amphiphilic fluid dynamics

“…Studies of amphiphilic fluid flow in porous media, which have previously been performed in two dimensions (Coveney et al . 1998;Maillet & Coveney 2000), are now underway using the three-dimensional model (Coveney 1999). Indeed there is a rich seam of problems related to amphiphilic fluids which may be mined using the model.…”

“…There is a large degree of phase coexistence. Individual monomers may join or leave a micelle in the spherical micelle regime, and the kinetics of simple micelle formation can be modelled theoretically on the basis of a Becker-Döring theory (Coveney & Wattis 1996;Maillet et al . 2000).…”

Macroscopic capillarity and hysteresis for flow in porous media

“…Many physicists on the other hand try to overcome these problems by resorting to microscopic model calculations in an attempt to predict macroscopic behaviour starting from the pore scale or below [7,20]. [2.…”