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Critical REV Size of Multiphase Flow in Porous Media for Upscaling by Pore-Scale Modeling

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Abstract

Digital rock analysis provides us a powerful tool for predicting geophysical properties and studying fluid and interfacial transport mechanisms in rocks. However, people have to struggle and find a balance between scanning resolution and sample size due to current limitations of imaging technologies. With satisfaction of resolution requirement, the sample size has to be larger than the critical size of representative element volume (REV), so that the consequent pore-scale models are able to provide meaningful geophysical predictions for upscaling to Darcy-scale analysis. Following our previous work [Energies, 11: 1798, 2018] on REV size for single-phase flow, this work considers the critical size of REV for multiphase flow in porous media. A multiphase lattice Boltzmann model has been developed for simulation of two-phase immiscible flow. The relative permeability, which can be influenced by the capillary number and wettability, and the saturation of phases are calculated for upscaling. The critical size of REV for multiphase flow in porous media is therefore found and compared with that for single-phase flow. It is found that the REV size for the relative permeability–saturation curve of multiphase flow, which is influenced by the phase interaction and wettability, is beyond twice of that for the absolute permeability of single-phase flow in the present study.

Article Highlights

  • The critical size of REV for multiphase flow in porous media is determined by pore-scale modeling.

  • The REV size of multiphase flow is beyond twice that of single-phase flow on the same porous structure.

  • The REV size for the relative permeability–saturation curve is influenced by the phase interaction and wettability.

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Data Availability

The original data are not available publicly online but can be provided by the authors for interested researchers.

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The source code is not available publicly online but can be provided by the authors for interested researchers.

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Acknowledgements

This work is financially supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2019YFA0708704) and NSF grant of China (No. U1837602). Our simulations are run on the “Explorer 100” cluster of Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information Science and Technology.

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  1. Department of Engineering Mechanics and CNMM, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Tong Liu & Moran Wang

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  1. Tong Liu
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  2. Moran Wang
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TL performed simulation and analysis of data and wrote the paper. MW provided guidance and critical review of the work.

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Correspondence to Moran Wang.

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Liu, T., Wang, M. Critical REV Size of Multiphase Flow in Porous Media for Upscaling by Pore-Scale Modeling. Transp Porous Med 144, 111–132 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-021-01621-2

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