This thesis describes a new dynamic network model for imbibition which is based on a physically realistic description of the complex dynamics of corner film flow, swelling and snap-off. The model shows that film flow is a capillary driven non-linear diffusive process and that the competition between snapoff and frontal displacements is rate dependent and results in rate dependent relative permeabilities and residual saturations. In contrast to previously published models in which length scales for snap-off are either specified a priori or calculated assuming steady-state film flow and constant film conductivities, in the present model, snap-off arises as a natural consequence of the fully transient nature of film flow and swelling. The network model is used to analyse the complex interaction between displacement rate, contact angle, aspect ratio and pore and throat shape on relative permeability and residual saturation. Computed relative permeabilities and residual saturations are compared with laboratory measurements reported in the literature. It is concluded that the magnitude of the rate effect on imbibition relative permeabilities and residual saturations for a particular rock microstructure and wettability condition depends largely on the pore-throat aspect ratio. Higher aspect ratios result in stronger rate effects than do smaller aspect ratios.

Optimizing proppant pack conductivity and proppant-transport and -deposition patterns in a hydraulic fracture is of critical importance to sustain effective and economical production of petroleum hydrocarbons. In this research, a numerical modeling approach, combining the discrete element method (DEM) with the lattice Boltzmann (LB) simulation, was developed to provide fundamental insights into the factors regulating the interactions between reservoir depletion, proppant-particle compaction and movement, single-/multiphase flows and non-Darcy flows in a hydraulic fracture, and fracture conductivity evolution from a partial-monolayer proppant concentration to a multilayer proppant concentration. The potential effects of mixed proppants of different sizes and types on the fracture conductivity were also investigated. The simulation results demonstrate that a proppant pack with a smaller diameter coefficient of variation (COV), defined as the ratio of standard deviation of diameter to mean diameter, provides better support to the fracture; the relative permeability of oil was more sensitive to changes in geometry and stress; when effective stress increased continuously, oil relative permeability increased nonmonotonically; the combination of high diameter COV and high effective stress leads to a larger pressure drop and consequently a stronger non-Darcy flow effect. The study of proppant mixtures shows that mixing of similar proppant sizes (mesh-size-20/40) has less influence on the overall fracture conductivity than mixing a very fine mesh size (mesh-size-100); selection of proppant type is more important than proppant size selection when a proppant mixture is used. Increasing larger-size proppant composition in the proppant mixture helps maintain fracture conductivity when the mixture contains lower-strength proppants. These findings have important implications to the optimization of proppant placement, completion design, and well production. In the hydraulic-mechanical rock-proppant system, a fundamental understanding of multiphase flow in the formation rock is critical in achieving sustainable long-term productivity within a reservoir. Specifically, the interactions between the critical dimensionless numbers associated with multiphase flow, including contact angle, viscosity ratio, and capillary number (Ca), were investigated using X-ray micro computed tomography (micro-CT) scanning and LB modeling. The primary novel finding of this study is that the viscosity ratio affects the rate of change of the relative permeability curves for both phases when the contact angle changes continuously. Simulation results also indicate that the change in non-wetting fluid relative permeability was larger when the flow direction was switched from vertical to horizontal, which indicated that there was stronger anisotropy in larger pore networks that were primarily occupied by the non-wetting fluid. This study advances the fundamental understanding of the multiphysics processes associated with multiphase flow in geologic materials and provides insight into upscaling methodologies that account for the influence of pore-scale processes in core- and larger-scale modeling frameworks. During reservoir depletion processes, reservoir formation damage is an issue that will affect the reservoir productivity and various phases in fluid recovery. Invasion of formation fine particles into the proppant pack can affect the proppant pack permeability, leading to potential conductivity loss. The combined DEM-LB numerical framework was used to evaluate the role of proppant particle size heterogeneity (variation in proppant particle diameter) and effective stress on the migration of detached fine particles in a proppant supported fracture. Simulation results demonstrate that a critical fine particle size exists: when a particle diameter is larger or smaller than this size, the deposition rate increases; the transport of smaller fines is dominated by Brownian motion, whereas the migration of larger fines is dominated by interception and gravitational settling; this study also indicates that proppant packs with a more heterogeneous particle-diameter distribution provide better fines control. The findings of this study shed lights on the relationship between changing pore geometries, fluid flow, and fine particle migration through a propped hydraulic fracture during the reservoir depletion process. / Doctor of Philosophy / Hydraulic fracturing stimulation design is required for unconventional hydrocarbon energy (e.g., shale oil and gas) extraction due to the low permeability and complex petrophysical properties of unconventional reservoirs. During hydrocarbon production, fractures close after pumping due to the reduced fluid pressure and increased effective stress in rock formations. In the oil and gas industry, proppant particles, which are granular materials, typically sand, treated sand, or man-made ceramic materials, are pumped along with fracturing fluids to prevent hydraulic fractures from closing during hydrocarbon extraction. In order to relate the geomechanical (effective stress), geometric (pore structure and connectivity), and transport (absolute permeability, relative permeability, and conductivity) properties of a proppant assembly sandwiched in a rock fracture, a geomechanics-fluid mechanics framework using both experiment and simulation methods, was developed to study the interaction and coupling between them. The outcome of this research will advance the fundamental understanding of the coupled, multiphysics processes with respect to hydraulic fracturing and benefit the optimization of proppant placement, completion design, and well production.

No description available.

The productivity of most gas condensate wells is reduced significantly due to condensate banking when the bottom hole pressure falls below the dew point. The liquid drop-out in these very high rate gas wells may lead to low recovery problems. The most important parameter for determining condensate well productivity is the effective gas permeability in the near wellbore region, where very high velocities can occur. An understanding of the characteristics of the high-velocity gas-condensate flow and relative permeability data is necessary for accurate forecast of well productivity. In order to tackle this goal, a series of two-phase drainage relative permeability measurements on a moderate permeability North Marmara &ndash / 1 gas well carbonate core plug sample, using a simple synthetic binary retrograde condensate fluid sample were conducted under reservoir conditions which corresponded to near miscible conditions. As a fluid system, the model of methanol/n-hexane system was used as a binary model that exhibits a critical point at ambient conditions. The interfacial tension by means of temperature and the flow rate were varied in the laboratory measurements. The laboratory experiments were repeated for the same conditions of interfacial tension and flow rate at immobile water saturation to observe the influence of brine saturation in gas condensate systems. The laboratory experiment results show a clear trend from the immiscible relative permeability to miscible relative permeability lines with decreasing interfacial tension and increasing velocity. So that, if the interfacial tension is high and the flow velocity is low, the relative permeability functions clearly curved, whereas the relative permeability curves straighten as a linear at lower values of the interfacial tension and higher values of the flow velocity. The presence of the immobile brine saturation in the porous medium shows the same shape of behavior for relative permeability curves with a small difference that is the initial wetting phase saturations in the relative permeability curve shifts to the left in the presence of immobile water saturation. A simple new mathematical model is developed to compute the gas and condensate relative permeabilities as a function of the three-parameter. It is called as condensate number / NK so that the new model is more sensitivity to temperature that represents implicitly the effect of interfacial tension. The new model generated the results were in good agreement with the literature data and the laboratory test results. Additionally, the end point relative permeability data and residual saturations satisfactorily correlate with literature data. The proposed model has fairly good fitness results for the condensate relative permeability curves compared to that of gas case. This model, with typical parameters for gas condensates, can be used to describe the relative permeability behavior and to run a compositional simulation study of a single well to better understand the productivity of the field.

The goal of submitted thesis is to perform a computer simulation of bubble creation in T-channel. In the first section of the paper, the theoretical applications of microfluidic bubble, micromachines and droplet formation are described. In the second part of the text, author uses cross flowing method for simulation od bubble creation. Furthermore, several settings in computer simulation software Fluent are mentioned. In addition, the influence of velocity at the T-channel inlet on surface tension and on bubble length is presented.

Ce travail porte sur l'étude théorique des interfaces entre deux fluides visqueux, soumis à un écoulement de Couette plan. Dans cette situation hors d'équilibre, les fluctuations thermiques de l'interface sont modifiées en raison du couplage par le cisaillement entre les effets visqueux et les effets de tension. Comme c'est le cas pour d'autres systèmes de matière molle (par exemple, les phases lamellaires), le cisaillement peut alors amplifier ou amortir les déformations interfaciales. On s'intéresse tout d'abord à la dynamique des fluctuations interfaciales. On montre que ces dernières vérifient une équation stochastique non-linéaire, dont la solution est contrôlée par un paramètre sans dimension qui contient toute l'information sur le système. La résolution à faible taux de cisaillement révèle que le déplacement quadratique moyen des fluctuations thermiques diminue avec l'écoulement, conformément aux observations expérimentales et numériques. Ensuite, on étudie l'influence des effets inertiels sur la stabilité de l'écoulement, dans le régime des fortes viscosités et des faibles tensions. Ce régime des grands nombres capillaires n'a été que très peu étudié, mais trouve sa pertinence par exemple dans les mélanges biphasiques de colloïdes et de polymères. Des critères de stabilité simples sont mis en évidence. Finalement, on réalise une étude numérique des propriétés des fluctuations interfaciales à grand cisaillement. Bien que les effets visqueux soient dominants, il en ressort une phénoménologie similaire à certains modèles de turbulence. / In this contribution, we investigate theoretically an interface between two newtonian fluids in a stationnary shear flow. The statistical properties of the interface are driven out of equilibrium due to the coupling by the shear flow between viscous and tension effects. The shear flow may either enhance or suppress interfacial deformations, as it is the case in others soft matter systems (for example, lamellar phases). The dynamics of thermal fluctuations is first considered. It is shown that fluctuation modes follow a stochastic nonlinear equation. The solution is then controlled by a single dimensionless parameter, that contains all the information of the system. The mean square displacement is obtained in the limit of small shear rates: it is found to be smoothed out by the flow, in qualitative agreement with experiments and simulations. Then, a stability analysis of the flow is achieved when inertial contibutions are taken into account. We focus on the regime of small surface tension and large viscosity. This regime has experienced a renewed interest in the last few years, in the context of phase-separated colloid-polymer mixtures. Simple criteria for the stability or instability of the flow are outveiled. Finally, a numerical study of fluctuation properties is performed in the limit of large shear rate. Although viscous effects are predominant, the results share some similarities with some turbulence models.

Multiphase flows abound in nature and enterprises. Our daily interactions with fluids - washing, drinking, and cooking, for example - occur at a free surface and within the realm of multiphase flows. The applications of multiphase flows within the context of emulsions, which are caused by mixing two immiscible fluids, have been of interest since the nineteenth century: compartmentalizing one fluid in another is particularly of interest in applications in pharmaceutical, materials, microfluidics, chemical, and biological engineering. Even more control in compartmentalization and delivery can be obtained through the usage of double emulsions, which are emulsions of smaller drops (i.e., inner drop) within larger drops (i.e., outer drop). The goal of this work is to understand the dynamic behavior of compound drops in confined flow at low Reynolds numbers. These behaviors include the migration patterns, limit cycles, and equilibrium locations in confined flows such as channel flows.<br> <br>Firstly, we look at non-concentric compound drops that are subject to simple shear flows. The eccentricity in the inner drop is either within the place of shear, normal to the plane of shear, or mixed. We show unreported motions that persist throughout time regardless of the initial eccentricity, given that the deformations of the inner and outer drops are small. Understanding the temporal dynamics of compound drops within the simple shear flow, one of the simplest background flows that may be imposed, allows us to probe at the dynamics of more complicated background flows.<br> <br>Secondly, we look at the lateral migration of compound drops in a Poiseuille flow. Depending on the initial condition, we show that there are multiple equilibria. We also show that the majority of initial configurations results in the compound drop with symmetry about the short wall direction. We then show the time it takes for the interfaces to merge if a given initial configuration does not reach the aforementioned symmetry.<br> <br>Thirdly, while the different equilibria of compound drops offer some positional differences at different radii ratio, we show that the lift force profiles at non-equilibrium locations offer distinctly different results for compound drops with different radii ratio. We then look at how this effect is greater than changes that arise due to viscosity ratio changes, and offer insights on what may create such a change in the lift force profile.

L'injection de tensioactifs est une méthode très appliquée dans le domaine de la récupération améliorée des hydrocarbures. Cependant, son efficacité repose sur la capacité de ces agents chimiques à mobiliser l'huile résiduelle en diminuant la tension interfaciale entre l'huile et l'eau. Des modèles à l'échelle du réservoir calculent l'efficacité de la récupération d'huile résiduelle par injection de solutions contenant des tensioactifs. Les mécanismes physiques pris en compte dans les modélisations font intervenir la physico-chimie du système roche-fluide et une courbe globale donnant la saturation résiduelle en huile en fonction du nombre capillaire (courbe de désaturation capillaire). Cette donnée est majeure dans le calcul de l'efficacité de récupération d'huile par injection de solutions de tensioactifs. En effet la mobilisation de l'huile résiduelle laissée en place après injection d'eau n'est possible qu'en augmentant considérablement le nombre capillaire. La prédiction de l'efficacité d'un procédé chimique de récupération passe par la compréhension, à l'échelle du pore, du processus de mobilisation des ganglions d'huile suivant la structure poreuse et le nombre capillaire. L'objet de cette thèse est de caractériser la récupération d'huile tertiaire en fonction du nombre capillaire dans diverses roches mouillables à l'eau. Ces courbes permettront de quantifier l'effet de la microstructure, les hétérogénéités du milieu poreux et diverses propriétés pétrophysiques sur la récupération d'huile. Cette thèse permettra aussi de caractériser les différents mécanismes d'action de tensioactifs sur la mobilisation d'huile résiduelle dans le milieu poreux. L'expérimentation par tomographie RX est utilisée. La tomographie RX permettra de caractériser les courbes de désaturation capillaire à l'échelle de Darcy et visualiser localement le déplacement d'huile résiduelle à travers les milieux poreux. Des essais d'écoulement diphasique sous micro-CT permettront d'observer in-situ et d'étudier les interfaces eau/huile et leurs évolutions en 3D au sein du milieu poreux en fonction du nombre capillaire. / Oil recovery by surfactant injection is related to oil-water interfacial tension and rock properties through the capillary number. In the modeling of oil recovery by surfactant injection, fluid flow physical mechanisms are represented through the capillary desaturation curve (CDC). This curve is central in the evaluation of oil recovery efficiency. In order to mobilize residual oil trapped after waterflooding by capillary forces, chemical EOR rely on increasing capillary number to extremely high values. The mechanisms governing oil release can be described at the pore scale where the balance of capillary and viscous forces is achieved. This description will help to predict the efficiency of surfactant based EOR processes by taking into account the porous geometry and topology, the physico-chemical properties of the fluids and the different phase interaction. The objective of this work is to characterize capillary desaturation curves for various strongly water-wet sandstones. These curves will be used to study the relationship between tertiary oil recovery and the pore structure, porous media heterogeneity and petrophysicals properties. The other aim of this work is to map the different mechanisms of oil recovery by surfactant injection. Experiments under X-Ray tomography are proposed. X-Ray tomography will be applied to characterize capillary desaturation curve at Darcy scale and to visualise the two phase flow saturation after injection. Pore scale experiments based on X-Ray micro-tomography imaging are performed to describe the different mechanisms of oil mobilization.