Two-dimensional numerical investigation of oil-water interfacial flows: Local penetration dynamics in inhomogeneous cylindrical array

초록

The oil-water interfacial flow phenomena often play decisive roles in porous media for various types of oil recovery system. In the present study, we numerically investigate the oil-water penetration dynamics for an arbitrary inhomogeneous cylindrical array to understand the local penetration behavior and its interaction characteristics with neighbor cylinders. The level contour reconstruction method, a hybrid model of the two well-established interface tracking methods (front tracking and level set), is utilized to accurately represent the oil-water interfacial motion. We reveal that the penetration dynamics is evidently affected by the geometric deployment of neighbor cylinders at local level, and its penetration behavior can be understood as the "path-finding" problem. An analytical model based on the Young-Laplace equation describing the force balance for a "meniscus in a channel" problem is also proposed. The critical pressure difference which distinguishes the penetration outcome as either "separation state" or "penetration state" can successfully be predicted by our proposed model, showing a good agreement between the predicted values and our simulation data for a wide range of operation conditions.

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