Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Behavior of Nonaqueous Phase Liquids in Fractured Porous Media under Two‐Phase Flow Conditions

  • Published:
Transport in Porous Media Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

After dense nonaqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs) travel downward through the subsurface, they typically come to rest on fractured bedrock or tight clay layers, which become additional pathways for DNAPL migration. DNAPLs trapped in fractures are continuous sources of groundwater contamination. To decide whether they can be left in place to dissolve or volatilize, or must be removed with active treatment, the movement of DNAPLs in fractured media must be understood at a fundamental level. This work presents numerical simulations of the movements of DNAPLs in naturally fractured media under two‐phase flow conditions. The flow is modeled using a multiphase network flow model, used to develop predictive capabilities for DNAPL flow in fractures. Capillary pressure–saturation–relative permeability curves are developed for two‐phase flow in fractures. Comparisons are made between the behavior in crystalline, almost impermeable rocks (e.g. granite) and more permeable rocks like sandstone, to understand the effects of the rock matrix on the displacement of the DNAPLs in the fracture. For capillary‐dominated flow, displacements occur as a sequence of jumps, as the invading phase overcomes the capillary pressure at downgradient apertures. Preferential channels for the displacement of nonaqueous phase are formed due to high fracture aperture in some regions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abriola, L. M. and Pinder, G. F.: 1985, A multiphase approach to the modeling of porous media contamination by organic compounds. 1: Equation development, Water Resour. Res. 21(1), 11–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abriola, L.: 1989, Modeling multiphase migration of organic chemicals in groundwater systems - A review and assessment, Environmental Health Perspectives 83, 117–143.

    Google Scholar 

  • Adamson, A. W.: 1982, Physical Chemistry of Surfaces, 4th edn, Wiley, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aziz, K. and Settari, A.: 1979, Petroleum Reservoir Simulation, Applied Science, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baehr, A. L. and Corapcioglu, M. Y.: 1987, A compositional multiphase model for groundwater contamination by petroleum products. 2: Numerical solution, Water Resour. Res. 23(1), 201–213.

    Google Scholar 

  • Billiotte, J. A., De Moegen, H., Oren, P. E.: 1993, Experimental micromodeling and numerical simulation of gas/water injection/withdrawal cycles as applied to underground gas storage, SPE Ad. Tech. Series 1 1, 133–139.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dawson, H. E.: 1992, Entrapment and mobilization of residual halogenated organic liquids in saturated aquifer material, PhD dissertation, Stanford University, Stanford, California.

    Google Scholar 

  • Demond, A. H.: 1988, Capillarity in two-phase liquid flow of organic contaminants in groundwater, Ph.D. dissertation, Stanford University, Stanford, California.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fourar, M., Bories, S., Lenormand, R. and Persoff, P.: 1993, Two-phase flow in smooth and rough fractures: measurement and correlation by porous-medium and pipe flow models, Water Resour. Res. 29(11), 3699–3708.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glass, R. J. and Yarrington, L.: 1989, Analysis of wetting front instability using modified invasion percolation theory, EOS Transactions 70, 1117.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glass, R. J.: 1993, Modeling gravity-driven fingering in rough-walled fractures using modified percolation theory, High Level Radioactive Waste Management, In: Proc. Fourth Annual Int. Conf. American Nuclear Society, April 26-30, Las Vegas, NV, pp. 2042–2053.

  • Glass, R. J. and Yarrington, L.: 1996, Simulation of gravity fingering in porous media using a modified invasion percolation model, Geoderma, 70(2-4), 231–252.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guarnaccia, J. F. and Pinder, G. F.: 1992, A new two-phase flow and transport model with interphase mass exchange, In: Computational methods in water resources IX, Vol. 2: Mathematical Modeling in Water Resources, Computational Mechanics Publications, Boston, Massachusetts.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaluarachchi, J. J. and Parker, J. C.: 1990, Modeling multicomponent organic chemical transport in three-fluid phase porous media, J. Contam. Hydrol. 5, 349–374.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karasaki, K., Segan, S., Pruess, K. and Vomvoris, S.: 1994, A study of two-phase flow in fracture networks, Lawrence Berkeley Lab. Rep., LBL-34706.

  • Keller, A. A.: 1998a, Steam injection to displace DNAPLs from fractured media, Proc. GQ98, Groundwater Quality: Remediation and Protection, IAHS Publication No. 250, IAHS Press, Wallingford, U.K.

  • Keller, A. A.: 1998b, High resolution, non-destructive measurement and characterization of fracture apertures, Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 35(8), 1037–1050.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keller, A. A., Blunt, M. J. and Roberts, P. V.: 1999, Effect of fracture aperture variations on dispersion of contaminants. Water Resour. Res. 35(1): 55–63.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keller, A. A., Blunt, M. J. and Roberts, P. V.: 1997, Micromodel observation of the role of oil layers on multiphase flow, Transport in Porous Media 26: 277–297.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keller, A. A., Roberts, P. V. and Kitanidis, P. K.: 1995, Prediction of single phase transport parameters in a variable aperture fracture, Geophys. Res. Lett. 22(11), 1425–1428.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kueper, B. H. and Frind, E. O.: 1991, Two-phase flow in heterogeneous porous media: 1. Model development, Water Resour. Res. 27(6), 1049–1057.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kueper, B. H. and McWhorter, D. B.: 1992, Use of macroscopic percolation theory to construct large-scale capillary pressure curves, Water Resour. Res. 28(9), 3699–3708.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kueper, B. H. and McWhorter, D. B.: 1991, The behavior of dense, nonaqueous phase liquids in fractured clay and rock, Ground Water 29(5), 716–728

    Google Scholar 

  • Lenormand, R. and Zarcone, C.: 1988, Physics of Blob displacement in a two-dimensional porous medium, SPE Formation Evaluation, 271–275.

  • Lenormand, R. and Zarcone, C.: 1983, Mechanisms of the displacement of one fluid by another in a network of capillary ducts, J. Fluid Mech. 135, 337–353.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mercer, J. W. and Cohen, R. M.: 1990, A review of immiscible fluids in the subsurface: properties, models, characterization and remediation, J. Contam. Hydrol. 6, 107–163.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mohanty, K. K., Gupta, A. and DeRuiter, R. A.: 1994, Pore-Level mechanisms of residual oil formation during miscible displacement, J. Colloid Interface Sci. 163, 199–216.

    Google Scholar 

  • National Research Council: 1994, Alternatives for Ground Water Cleanup, National Academy Press, Washing D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parker, B. L., Gillham, R. W. and Cherry, J. A.: 1994, Diffusive disappearance of immiscible-phase organic liquids in fractured geologic media, Ground Water 32(5), 805–820.

    Google Scholar 

  • Persoff, P. and Pruess, K.: 1995, Two-phase flow visualization and relative permeability measurement in natural rough-walled rock fractures, Water Resour. Res. 31(5), 1175–1186.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pinder, G. F. and Abriola, L. M.: 1986, On the simulation of nonaqueous phase organic compounds in the subsurface, Water Resour. Res. 22(9), 109s–119s.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pruess, K. and Tsang, Y. W.: 1990, On two-phase relative permeability and capillary pressure of rough-walled rock fractures, Water Resour. Res. 26(9), 1915–1926.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pyrak-Nolte, L. J., Helgeson, D., Haley, G. M. and Morris, J. W.: 1992, Immiscible fluid flow in a fracture, In: J. R. Tillerson and W. R. Wawersik (eds) Proc. 33rd U.S. Rock Mech. Symp., Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, pp. 671–578.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reeves, H.W. and Abriola, L. M.: 1988, A decoupled approach to simulation of flow and transport of nonaqueous organic phase contaminants through porous media, In: M. A. Celia et al. (eds), Computational Methods in Water Resour., Vol. 1. Modeling Surface and Subsurface Flows, Elsevier, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reitsma, S. and Kueper, B. H.: 1994, Laboratory measurement of capillary pressure-saturation relationships in a rock fracture, Water Resour. Res. 30(4), 865–878.

    Google Scholar 

  • Romm, E. S.: 1966, Fluid Flow in Fractured Rocks, Nedra, Moscow.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rossen, W. R. and Kumar, A. T. A.: 1992, Single-and two-phase flow in natural fractures, Paper SPE-24195. Proc. 67th Annual Technical Conference of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, Washington, D.C.

  • Slough, K. J., Forsyth, P. A. and Sudicky, E. A.: 1998, Numerical simulation of multiphase flow and phase partitioning in discretely fractured geologic media: Model formulation, J. Contam. Hydrol. (submitted).

  • Verma, A. K.: 1990, Effects of phase transformation on steam-water relative permeabilities, PhD Dissertation, Univ. of Calif., Berkeley, California.

    Google Scholar 

  • Verma, A. K.: 1986, Effects of phase transformation on steam-water relative permeabilities, Rep. LBL-20594, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley, California.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vizika, O., Avraam, D. G. and Payatakes, A. C.: 1994, On the role of the viscosity ratio during low-capillary-number forced imbibition in porous media, J. Colloid Interface Sci. 165, 386–401.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, M. D., Oostrom, M. and Lenhard, R. J.: 1995, Modeling fluid flow and transport in variably saturated porous media with the STOMP simulator: 1. Nonvolatile three-phase model description, Adv. Water Resour. 18(6), 353–364.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bren School of Environmental Science and Management University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, U.S.A

    Arturo A. Keller

  2. Department of Petroleum Engineering Stanford University Stanford, CA, 94305‐2220, U.S.A

    Martin J. Blunt

  3. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Stanford University Stanford, CA, 94305‐4020, U.S.A

    Paul V. Roberts

Authors
  1. Arturo A. Keller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Martin J. Blunt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Paul V. Roberts
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Keller, A.A., Blunt, M.J. & Roberts, P.V. Behavior of Nonaqueous Phase Liquids in Fractured Porous Media under Two‐Phase Flow Conditions. Transport in Porous Media 38, 189–203 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006619402305

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006619402305

Search

Navigation