Eventos Anais de eventos
ENCIT 2022
19th Brazilian Congress of Thermal Sciences and Engineering
LIQUID-LIQUID DISPLACEMENT FLOWS IN A RADIAL HELE-SHAW CELL
Submission Author:
Priscilla Varges , RJ
Co-Authors:
Lara Schimith Berghe, Bruno da Silva Fonseca, Priscilla Varges, Monica Naccache, Paulo Roberto de Souza Mendes, Marcia Cristina Khalil de Oliveira, Rafaella Magliano Balbi de Faria, Rogerio Mesquita de Carvalho, Aline Novaes
Presenter: Paulo Roberto de Souza Mendes
doi://10.26678/ABCM.ENCIT2022.CIT22-0244
Abstract
Complex pattern formation is frequently found in nature and industrial processes. Applications include bacterial colony growth, displacement of crude oil in reservoirs, drilling fluid invasion through porous media, hydrology, formation of crystals and snowflakes, among others. These phenomena occur in completely different scientific fields nevertheless are modelled by similar mathematical principles. The Saffman-Taylor instability or viscous fingering is a phenomenon observed when a low viscosity fluid displaces a more viscous one in a porous medium or equivalently in a Hele- Shaw cell, a well-known device consisting of two flat parallel plates separated by a narrow gap forming an effectively two-dimensional channel. The understanding of these interfacial phenomena and the influence of the governing parameters in the formation of patterns is extremely important to improve the efficiency of the displacing processes. This work aims to experimentally study the displacement efficiency of miscible Newtonian fluids in a radial Hele-Shaw cell. We investigated the development of the patterns established by the fluid’s interface instability along the displacement. A digital camera was used to track the evolution of the interface's shape as a function of geometric, dynamic, and rheological parameters. The displacement efficiency was calculated by image analysis tracing the shape of the interface when one domain volume of the displacing fluid has crossed the inlet boundary. It was defined as the ratio of the volume of the displacer fluid by the total volume of the Hele-Shaw cell. The tests consist of filling the cell with well produced water, which is a crude oil-in-water emulsion. The displacer fluids are represented by (i) aqueous solutions of HCl at pH=2.5, (ii) aqueous solutions of HCl with surfactant at pH=2.5 or (iii) flushing fluid. After a one volume displacement, another volume of produced water is injected. For all pairs of fluids and flow rates explored, it was observed a mixture between the fluids due to miscible effects. Viscous fingerings were only observed when produced water displaces the flushing fluid, indicating that the stability of the interface depends on the viscosity ratio.
Keywords
liquid-liquid displacement, Enhanced oil recovery, porous medium, Hele-Shaw cell, viscous fingering
