Three-phase flow through rough-walled fractures: An experimental investigation of relative permeabilities under varying saturation histories

IF 4.1 2区工程技术 Q2 ENGINEERING, CHEMICAL

Chemical Engineering Science Pub Date : 2025-04-11 DOI:10.1016/j.ces.2025.121665

Mohammed Eliebid, Abdelhalim Mohamed, Maziar Arshadi, Mohammad Piri

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Abstract

Relative permeabilities are essential for assessing subsurface flow performance for applications such as hydrocarbon recovery, enhanced geothermal, CO₂ storage, Hydrogen geo-storage, and water resources management. This study presents a comprehensive macro-scale experimental investigation of three-phase relative permeabilities in a rough-walled fracture across a broad range of saturation histories. The findings indicate that the brine relative permeability was primarily dependent on its saturation level. In contrast, oil relative permeability exhibited a pronounced dependence on saturation history, showing a quadratic correlation at low oil saturations (dominated by layer flow) and a quartic relationship at high saturations (governed by oil-filled fracture elements). Gas relative permeability was influenced by both its own saturation and saturation history. Higher flow rates were observed to enhance the relative permeabilities of both oil and gas. These trends are linked to changes in fluid configurations and transport dynamics within the fracture aperture.

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相对渗透率对于评估油气回收、强化地热、二氧化碳封存、氢气地质封存和水资源管理等应用领域的地下流动性能至关重要。本研究对粗糙壁断裂中的三相相对渗透率进行了全面的宏观尺度实验研究，涵盖了广泛的饱和历史。研究结果表明，盐水的相对渗透率主要取决于其饱和度。相比之下，石油相对渗透率对饱和度历史具有明显的依赖性，在低石油饱和度时（由油层流动主导）呈现二次相关关系，而在高饱和度时（由充满石油的裂缝元素主导）则呈现四次相关关系。气体相对渗透率受其自身饱和度和饱和度历史的影响。据观察，流速越高，石油和天然气的相对渗透率越高。这些趋势与断裂孔道内流体配置和传输动力学的变化有关。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Chemical Engineering Science 工程技术-工程：化工

CiteScore

7.50

自引率

8.50%

发文量

1025

审稿时长

50 days

期刊介绍： Chemical engineering enables the transformation of natural resources and energy into useful products for society. It draws on and applies natural sciences, mathematics and economics, and has developed fundamental engineering science that underpins the discipline. Chemical Engineering Science (CES) has been publishing papers on the fundamentals of chemical engineering since 1951. CES is the platform where the most significant advances in the discipline have ever since been published. Chemical Engineering Science has accompanied and sustained chemical engineering through its development into the vibrant and broad scientific discipline it is today.