Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Water resources research |
| Volume | 47 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Publication status | Published - 4 Feb 2011 |
Abstract
We study the influence of buoyancy and spatial heterogeneity on the spreading of the saturation front of a displacing fluid during injection into a porous medium saturated with another, immiscible fluid. To do so we use a stochastic modeling framework. We derive an effective large-scale flow equation for the saturation of the displacing fluid that is characterized by six nonlocal flux terms, four that resemble dispersive type terms and two that have the appearance of advection terms. From the effective large-scale flow equation we derive measures for the spreading of the saturation front. A series of full two-phase numerical solutions are conducted to complement the analytical developments. We find that the interplay between density and heterogeneity leads to an enhancement of the front spreading on one hand and to a renormalization of the evolution of the mean front position compared with an equivalent homogeneous medium. The quantification of these phenomena plays an important role in several applications, including, for example, carbon sequestration and enhanced oil recovery.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Environmental Science(all)
- Water Science and Technology
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In: Water resources research, Vol. 47, No. 2, 04.02.2011.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - The impact of buoyancy on front spreading in heterogeneous porous media in two-phase immiscible flow
AU - Bolster, Diogo
AU - Neuweiler, Insa
AU - Dentz, Marco
AU - Carrera, Jesus
PY - 2011/2/4
Y1 - 2011/2/4
N2 - We study the influence of buoyancy and spatial heterogeneity on the spreading of the saturation front of a displacing fluid during injection into a porous medium saturated with another, immiscible fluid. To do so we use a stochastic modeling framework. We derive an effective large-scale flow equation for the saturation of the displacing fluid that is characterized by six nonlocal flux terms, four that resemble dispersive type terms and two that have the appearance of advection terms. From the effective large-scale flow equation we derive measures for the spreading of the saturation front. A series of full two-phase numerical solutions are conducted to complement the analytical developments. We find that the interplay between density and heterogeneity leads to an enhancement of the front spreading on one hand and to a renormalization of the evolution of the mean front position compared with an equivalent homogeneous medium. The quantification of these phenomena plays an important role in several applications, including, for example, carbon sequestration and enhanced oil recovery.
AB - We study the influence of buoyancy and spatial heterogeneity on the spreading of the saturation front of a displacing fluid during injection into a porous medium saturated with another, immiscible fluid. To do so we use a stochastic modeling framework. We derive an effective large-scale flow equation for the saturation of the displacing fluid that is characterized by six nonlocal flux terms, four that resemble dispersive type terms and two that have the appearance of advection terms. From the effective large-scale flow equation we derive measures for the spreading of the saturation front. A series of full two-phase numerical solutions are conducted to complement the analytical developments. We find that the interplay between density and heterogeneity leads to an enhancement of the front spreading on one hand and to a renormalization of the evolution of the mean front position compared with an equivalent homogeneous medium. The quantification of these phenomena plays an important role in several applications, including, for example, carbon sequestration and enhanced oil recovery.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79951493874&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1029/2010WR009399
DO - 10.1029/2010WR009399
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:79951493874
VL - 47
JO - Water resources research
JF - Water resources research
SN - 0043-1397
IS - 2
ER -