Analysis and Simulation of Multiphase Flow in Porous Media

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Chemical and Molecular Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2019) | Viewed by 14435

Special Issue Editor

Dipartimento di Matematica, Università di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano SA, Italy
Interests: porous materials; heat conduction; continuum mechanics; thermodynamics; materials with microstructure

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Flow in porous media is an important topic in many industrial applications. In particular, in the petroleum industry, the efficient recovery of oil from reservoirs requires a deep understanding of multiphase flow.

An oil reservoir is a basin that can contain oil, water and other chemical species, each present in one or more physical phases. The presence of some of these constituents can also be a consequence of the techniques used to extract the oil from the reservoir.

The problem can be approached from a theoretical point of view, but modeling of such systems is prohibitive for its complexity, so it is frequently useful to resort to other approaches. Nevertheless, many theoretical simplified models have been proposed, and they can be useful in many situations.

The numerical approach can provide important information and can be very useful in concrete applications. A further improvement can be provided by simulations of multiphase flow systems.

The present volume would like to gather some of the more recent advances in multiphase flow of porous media, to provide the reader for a fresh overview of the topic.

Prof. Dr. Vincenzo Tibullo
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Multiphase flow
  • Porous materials
  • Fluid-phase systems
  • Flow of fluids
  • Mathematical models
  • Flow kinetics
  • Porosity
  • Transport medium
  • Numerical approximation
  • Simulation of systems

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 4323 KiB  
Article
Pressure Study on Pipe Transportation Associated with Cemented Coal Gangue Fly-Ash Backfill Slurry
by Jie Yang, Baogui Yang and Mingming Yu
Appl. Sci. 2019, 9(3), 512; https://doi.org/10.3390/app9030512 - 02 Feb 2019
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2646
Abstract
Cemented coal gangue-fly ash backfill (CGFB) slurry has commonly been used to control subsidence damage caused by underground coal mining. This paper discusses the characteristics of CGFB slurry fluidity in its pipe transportation. A general description about the components of the CGFB is [...] Read more.
Cemented coal gangue-fly ash backfill (CGFB) slurry has commonly been used to control subsidence damage caused by underground coal mining. This paper discusses the characteristics of CGFB slurry fluidity in its pipe transportation. A general description about the components of the CGFB is provided involving the percentage of composition, particle size distribution (PSD) and rheological performance. The CGFB flow characteristics of the slurry pipeline were simulated in a straight pipe and 90° elbow pipe, respectively, combined with the pressure loss and conveying velocity distribution. With the help of the commercial computational fluid dynamic (CFD) code FLUENT, the modeling was conducted with various slurry feeding velocities. These results showed the local resistance loss in a bending pipe is significantly higher than the resistance in a straight pipe under the same conditions associated with CGFB transportation. The velocity distribution of the slurry solid particles in the slurry’s movement forward is more decentralized as the hydraulic inlet velocity increases. Based on these simulation data, a correlation was developed to predict the resistance loss of the CGFB slurry as a function of the hydraulic inlet velocity, pipe diameter and CGFB slurry rheological characteristics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis and Simulation of Multiphase Flow in Porous Media)
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17 pages, 5326 KiB  
Article
Determination of Permeability and Inertial Coefficients of Sintered Metal Porous Media Using an Isothermal Chamber
by Wei Zhong, Xiang Ji, Chong Li, Jiwen Fang and Fanghua Liu
Appl. Sci. 2018, 8(9), 1670; https://doi.org/10.3390/app8091670 - 15 Sep 2018
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 4994
Abstract
Sintered metal porous media are widely used in a broad range of industrial equipment. Generally, the flow properties in porous media are represented by an incompressible Darcy‒Forchheimer regime. This study uses a modified Forchheimer equation to represent the flow rate characteristics, which are [...] Read more.
Sintered metal porous media are widely used in a broad range of industrial equipment. Generally, the flow properties in porous media are represented by an incompressible Darcy‒Forchheimer regime. This study uses a modified Forchheimer equation to represent the flow rate characteristics, which are then experimentally and theoretically investigated using a few samples of sintered metal porous media. The traditional steady-state method has a long testing time and considerable air consumption. With this in mind, a discharge method based on an isothermal chamber filled with copper wires is proposed to simultaneously determine the permeability and inertial coefficient. The flow rate discharged from the isothermal chamber is calculated by differentiating the measured pressure, and a paired dataset of pressure difference and flow rate is available. The theoretical representations of pressure difference versus flow rate show good agreement with the steady-state results. Finally, the volume limit of the isothermal chamber is addressed to ensure sufficient accuracy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis and Simulation of Multiphase Flow in Porous Media)
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14 pages, 1257 KiB  
Article
Lattice Boltzmann Simulation of Immiscible Two-Phase Displacement in Two-Dimensional Berea Sandstone
by Qingqing Gu, Haihu Liu and Yonghao Zhang
Appl. Sci. 2018, 8(9), 1497; https://doi.org/10.3390/app8091497 - 31 Aug 2018
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3491
Abstract
Understanding the dynamic displacement of immiscible fluids in porous media is important for carbon dioxide injection and storage, enhanced oil recovery, and non-aqueous phase liquid contamination of groundwater. However, the process is not well understood at the pore scale. This work therefore focuses [...] Read more.
Understanding the dynamic displacement of immiscible fluids in porous media is important for carbon dioxide injection and storage, enhanced oil recovery, and non-aqueous phase liquid contamination of groundwater. However, the process is not well understood at the pore scale. This work therefore focuses on the effects of interfacial tension, wettability, and the viscosity ratio on displacement of one fluid by another immiscible fluid in a two-dimensional (2D) Berea sandstone using the colour gradient lattice Boltzmann model with a modified implementation of the wetting boundary condition. Through invasion of the wetting phase into the porous matrix, it is observed that the viscosity ratio plays an important role in the non-wetting phase recovery. At the viscosity ratio ( λ ) of unity, the saturation of the wetting fluid is highest, and it linearly increases with time. The displacing fluid saturation reduces drastically when λ increases to 20; however, when λ is beyond 20, the reduction becomes less significant for both imbibition and drainage. The front of the bottom fingers is finally halted at a position near the inlet as the viscosity ratio increases to 10. Increasing the interfacial tension generally results in higher saturation of the wetting fluid. Finally, the contact angle is found to have a limited effect on the efficiency of displacement in the 2D Berea sandstone. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis and Simulation of Multiphase Flow in Porous Media)
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18 pages, 9441 KiB  
Article
Detection of Gas-Solid Two-Phase Flow Based on CFD and Capacitance Method
by Wanting Zhou, Yue Jiang, Shi Liu, Qing Zhao, Teng Long and Zhixiong Li
Appl. Sci. 2018, 8(8), 1367; https://doi.org/10.3390/app8081367 - 14 Aug 2018
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2818
Abstract
Multiphase flow in annular channels is complex, particularly in the region where the flow direction abruptly changes between the inner pipe and the outer pipe, as the cases in horizontal drilling and pneumatic conveying. Simplified models and experience are still the main sources [...] Read more.
Multiphase flow in annular channels is complex, particularly in the region where the flow direction abruptly changes between the inner pipe and the outer pipe, as the cases in horizontal drilling and pneumatic conveying. Simplified models and experience are still the main sources of information. First, to understand the process more deeply, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) package Fluent is used to simulate the gas-solid flow in the horizontal and the inclined section of an annular pipe. Discrete Phase Model (DPM) is adopted to calculate the trajectories of solid particles of different sizes at different air velocities. Also, the Two-Fluid model is used to simulate the sand flow in the inclined section for the case of air flow stoppage, for which an experiment is also conducted to verify the CFD simulation. Simulation results reveal the behaviour of the solid particles showing the dispersed spatial distribution of small particles near the entrance. On the other hand, larger particles manifest a distinct sedimented flow pattern along the bottom of the pipe. The density distribution of the particles over a pipe cross section is demonstrated at a variety of air velocities. The results also show that the large airspeed tends to generate swirls near the outlet of the inner pipe. In addition, Electrical Capacitance Tomography (ECT) technology is used to reconstruct the spatial distribution of particles, and the cross-correlation algorithm to detect velocity. Both the distribution and the velocity measurement by electric sensors agree reasonably well with the CFD predictions. The details revealed by CFD simulation and the mutual-verification between CFD simulation and the ECT method of this study could be valuable for the industry in drilling process control and equipment development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis and Simulation of Multiphase Flow in Porous Media)
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