This work examines the impact of a viscosity force parameter, fluid velocity, and a capillary force parameter, interfacial tension, on the saturation, morphology, and topology of NW fluid in Bentheimer sandstone after primary imbibition, drainage, and secondary imbibition. Brine and air (used as a proxy for supercritical CO₂) flow experiments were performed on 6 mm diameter Bentheimer cores and were quantified via imaging with x-ray computed microtomography (x-ray CMT), which allows for three dimensional, non-destructive, pore-scale analysis of the amount and distribution of NW phase fluid within the sandstone cores. It was found that trapped NW phase saturation decreases with increases in capillary number, average blob size decreases with increases in capillary number, and the number of NW blobs increases with increases in capillary number. In addition, it was found that NW phase trapping is dependent on initial NW phase connectivity within the porous medium; with more negative values of initial NW phase Euler number resulting in less trapping. We suggest that the Euler number-saturation and the capillary number-saturation relationships for a given medium should be taken into consideration when designing a CO₂ sequestration scenario. / Graduation date: 2013
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/36076 |
| Date | 29 November 2012 |
| Creators | Herring, Anna L. |
| Contributors | Wildenschild, Dorthe |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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