Abstract
The Rothman-Keller colour gradient Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) provides a means to simulate two phase flow of immiscible fluids by modelling number densities of two fluids, plus a “recoloring” step that ensures separation of the two fluids. Here, we model an additional number density representing the concentration of an additive to fluid 1 which affects the viscosity of this fluid. The Peclet number – rate of advection to diffusion – is used to set the diffusion coefficient of the concentration. We present tests to demonstrate the method including flow and merging of two adjacent droplets with different additive concentrations, and two-phase flow tests in a 2D porous matrix involving injection of fluid with an additive that increases the viscosity and thus decreases viscous fingering (e.g. a polymer additive). We demonstrate that use of polymers from the start of waterflooding leads to a high saturation of 90% much sooner than when polymers are applied after breakthrough. This work demonstrates that the RK color gradient multiphase LBM can be used to study viscous fingering behavior in porous media in which the injected low viscosity fluid can have its viscosity varied with time by use of an additive. This is both of scientific interest and has economic implications to Enhanced Oil Recovery, in which water–potentially with a polymer additive to increase viscosity– is injected from an injection well into a rock layer saturated with a high viscosity fluid (oil) to help push out the oil into a production well.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data Availability Statement
Not applicable.
References
Abidin, A.Z., Puspasar, T., Nugroho, W.A.: Polymers for enhanced oil recovery technology. Procedia Chem. 4, 11–16 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proche.2012.06.002
Armstrong, R.T., Berg, S., Dinariev, O., Evseev, N., Klemin, D., Koroteev, D., Safonov, S.: Modeling of Pore-Scale Two-Phase phenomena using density functional hydrodynamics. Transp. Porous Media 112, 577–607 (2016)
Blunt, M.J., Bijeljic, B., Dong, H., Gharbi, O., Iglauer, S., Mostaghimi, P., Paluszny, A., Pentland, C.: Pore-scale imaging and modelling. Adv. Water Resour. 51, 197–216 (2013)
Chen, J.D., Wilkinson, D.: Pore-scale viscous fingering in porous media. Phys. Rev. Lett. 55(18), 1892–1896 (1985)
Cueto-Felgueroso, L., Juanes, R.: A phase-field model of two-phase Hele-Shaw flow. J. Fluid Mech. 758, 522–552 (2014)
Cueto-Felgueroso, L., Fu, X., Juanes, R.: Pore-scale modeling of phase change in porous media. Phys. Rev. Fluids 3(8), 084302 (2018)
Deng, X., Kamal, M.S., Patil, S., Hussain, S.M.S., Zhou, X.: A review on wettability alteration in catbonate rocks: wettability modifiers. Energy Fuels 34, 31–54 (2020)
Demianov, A., Dinariev, O., Evseev, N.: Density functional modelling in multiphase compositional hydrodynamics. Can. J. Chem. Eng. 89, 207–226 (2011)
Grosfils, P., Boon, J.P., Chin, J., Boek, E.S.: Structural and dynamical characterization of Hele-Shaw viscous fingering, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A: Math, Phys. Eng. Sci. 362(1821), 1723–1734 (2004)
Grunau, D., Chen, S., Eggert, K.: A lattice Boltzmann model for multiphase fluid flows. Phys. Fluids A: Fluid Dyan. 5(10), 2557–2562 (1993)
Gunstensen, A.K., Rothman, D.H., Zeleski, S., Zanetti, G.: Lattice Boltzmann model of immiscible fluids. Phys. Rev. A 43(8), 4320–4327 (1991)
He, X., Chen, S., Zhang, R.: A lattice Boltzmann scheme for incompressible multiphase flow and its application in simulation of Rayleigh-Taylor instability. J. Comput. Phys. 152(2), 642–663 (1999)
Homsy, G.M.: Viscous fingering in porous media. Ann. Rev. Fluid Mech. 19, 271–311 (1997)
Huang, H., Sukop, M., Lu, X.: Multiphase lattice Boltzmann methods: Theory and application, p. 312. John Wiley & Sons, UK (2015)
Inamuro, T., Ogata, T., Tajima, S., Konishi, N.: A lattice Boltzmann method for incompressible two-phase flows with large density differences. J. Comput. Phys. 198(2), 628–644 (2004)
Jadhunandan, P.P., Morrow, N.R.: Effect of wettability on waterflood recovery for crude-oil/brine/rock systems, SPE Reserv. Eng. 10, 40–46 (1995)
Kennedy, H.T., Burja, E.O., Boykin, R.S.: An investigation of the effects of wettability on the recovery of oil by water flooding. J. Phys. Chem. 59, 867–879 (1955)
Krüger, T., Kusumaatmaja, H., Kuzmin, O.: The Lattice Boltzmann Method: Principles and Practice (Chapter 8), Springer, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44649-3_8
Latva-Kokko, M., Rothman, D.: Static contact angle in lattice Boltzmann models of immiscible fluids. Phys. Rev. E 74(4), 046701 (2005)
Leclaire, S., Reggio, M., Trépanier, J.-Y.: Isotropic color gradient for simulating very high-density ratios with a two-phase flow lattice Boltzmann model. Comput. Fluids 48(1), 98–112 (2011)
Lenormand, R., Touboul, E., Zarcone, C.: Numerical models and experiments on immiscible displacements in porous media. J. Fluid Mech. 1989, 165–187 (1988)
Måløy, K.J., Feder, J., Jøssang, T.: Viscous fingering fractals in porous media. Phys. Rev. Lett. 55(24), 2688–2691 (1985)
Mora, P., Morra, G., Yuen, D.: Optimal surface tension isotropy in the Rothman-Keller colour gradient Lattice Boltzmann Method for multi-phase flow. Phys. Rev. E 103(3), 033302 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.103.033302
Mora, P., Morra, G., Yuen, D., Juanes, R.: Optimal wetting angles in Lattice Boltzmann simulations of viscous fingering. Transp. Porous Media 136, 831–842 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-020-01541-7
Mora, P., Morra, G., Yuen, D., Juanes, R.: Influence of wetting on viscous fingering via 2D Lattice Boltzmann simulations. Transp. Porous Media 138, 511–538 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-021-01629-8
Morrow, N., Buckley, J.: Improved oil recovery by low salinity waterflooding. J. Pet. Technol. 63, 106–112 (2011)
Reis, T., Phillips, T.N.: Lattice Boltzmann model for simulating immiscible two-phase flows. J. Phys. A Math. Theor. 40(14), 4033–4053 (2007)
Rothman, D., Keller, J.: Immiscible cellular automaton fluids. J. Stat. Phys. 52(3/4), 1119–1127 (1988)
Seethepalli, A., Adibhatla, B., Mohanty, K.K.: Physicochemical interactions during surfactant flooding of fractured carbonate reservoirs. SPE J. 9(4), 411–418 (2004). https://doi.org/10.2118/89423-PA
Shan, X., Chen, H.: Lattice Boltzmann model for simulating flows with multiple phases and components. Phys. Rev. E 47(3), 1815 (1993)
Swift, M.R., Orlandini, E., Osborn, W.R., Yeomans, J.M.: Lattice Boltzmann simulations of liquid-gas and binary fluid systems. Phys. Rev. E 54(5), 5041 (1996)
Trojer, M., Szulczewski, M.L., Juanes, R.: Stabilizing fluid-fluid displacements in porous media through wettability alteration. Phys. Rev. Appl. 3(5), 054008 (2015)
Wang, H., Yuan, X., Liang, H., Chai, Z., Shi, B.: A brief review of the phase-field-based lattice Boltzmann method for multiphase flows. Capillarity 2(3), 33–52 (2019)
Yakimchuk, I., Evseev, N., Korobkov, D., Ridzel, O., Pletneva, V.: Study of polymer flooding at pore scale by digital core analysis for East-Messoyakhskoe Oil Field, in SPE Russian Petroleum Technology Conference, Virtual, October 2020, Paper Number: SPE-202013-MS, https://doi.org/10.2118/202013-MS (2020)
Yang, J., Boek, E.S.: A comparison study of multi-component Lattice Boltzmann models for flow in porous media applications. Computers & Mathematics with Applications 65(6), 882–890 (2013)
Zhang, Z., Li, Z., Wu, W.: Advection-diffusion Lattice Boltzmann Method with and without dynamical filter. Front. Phys. 10, 875628 (2022)
Zhao, B., MacMinn, C.W., Juanes, R.: Wettability control on multiphase flow in patterned microfluidics. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 113(37), 10251–10256 (2016)
Zou, Q., He, X.: On pressure and velocity flow boundary conditions and bounce back for the lattice Boltzmann BGK model. Phys. Fluids 9, 1591–1598 (1997)
Zacharoudiou, I., Boek, E.S., Crawshaw, J.: Pore-scale modeling of drainage displacement patterns in association with geological sequestration of CO2. Water Resour. Res. 56(11), e2019WR026332 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1029/2019WR026332
Zhao, B., MacMinn, C.W., Primkulov, B.K., Chen, Y., Valocchi, A.J., Zhao, J., Juanes, R.: Comprehensive comparison of pore-scale models for multiphase flow in porous media. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 116(28), 13799–13806 (2019)
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the College of Petroleum Engineering and Geosciences at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia. D.A. Yuen would like to thank National Science Foundations geochemistry and CISE program for support. In addition, this research was in part funded by the US Department of Energy Grant DE-SC0019759 (D.A.Y) by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Grant EAR-1918126 (D.A.Y).
Funding
This research was supported by the College of Petroleum Engineering and Geosciences at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia. In addition, this research was funded by the US Department of Energy Grant DE-SC0019759 (D A. Y) by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Grant EAR-1918126 (D.A.Y).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflicts of interest
Not applicable.
Code availability
Not applicable.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Mora, P., Morra, G., Yuen, D.A. et al. Convection-Diffusion with the Colour Gradient Lattice Boltzmann Method for Three-Component, Two-Phase Flow. Transp Porous Med 147, 259–280 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-023-01906-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-023-01906-8