Numerical Investigation of Binary Fluid Flow through Propped Fractures by Lattice Boltzmann Method
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 20, Issue 7
Abstract
In this paper, a pore-scale multiphase, multicomponent Shan–Chen model with proper pressure boundary scheme is developed and implemented to model binary flows in porous media, which enables us to reveal the displacement mechanism of binary flows in hydraulic fractures filled with proppant of different sizes. Each fluid is represented by a lattice with different particle distribution functions. The pressure boundary scheme should be carefully approached to avoid numerical instabilities, because two interrelated lattices coexist in the same computational domain. The present model is validated and calibrated by the bubble test and the static contact angle test. In addition, based on this model, the two-component displacement is investigated, which is of great importance to the petroleum industry CO2 sequestration, subsurface energy storage, and waste landfill,. It involves complex flow mechanism affected by a variety of factors. In this study, only two factors are considered and studied: the wettability of binary fluids and the pore structures of propped fractures obtained from our previous studies. To evaluate the displacement performance in detail, three evaluation parameters, including breakthrough time, displacement efficiency and interfacial instabilities, are calculated in this simulation. Results show that both wettability and pore structures of propped fractures influence significantly the two-component displacement. The results agree qualitatively with the previous results, validating the effectiveness of the present model in predicting binary flows in propped fractures.
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Acknowledgments
Investigation of the proposed methodology for LBM model in this paper is supported by the Strategic Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDB10030400), the Hundred Talent Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. Y323081C01), and the National Natural Science Fund (Grant No. 51439008). The authors would like to express their deepest gratitude for the generous support.
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Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 20 • Issue 7 • July 2020
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 29, 2019
Accepted: Sep 17, 2019
Published online: Apr 17, 2020
Published in print: Jul 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Sep 17, 2020
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