A numerical model of two-phase flow at the micro-scale using the volume-of-fluid method
File(s)Shams_Raeini_Blunt_Bijeljic_JCP2018.pdf (3.81 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
Shams, M
Raeini, AQ
Blunt, MJ
Bijeljic, B
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
This study presents a simple and robust numerical scheme to model two-phase flow in porous media where capillary forces dominate over viscous effects. The volume-of-fluid method is employed to capture the fluid-fluid interface whose dynamics is explicitly described based on a finite volume discretization of the Navier–Stokes equations. Interfacial forces are calculated directly on reconstructed interface elements such that the total curvature is preserved. The computed interfacial forces are explicitly added to the Navier–Stokes equations using a sharp formulation which effectively eliminates spurious currents. The stability and accuracy of the implemented scheme is validated on several two- and three-dimensional test cases, which indicate the capability of the method to model two-phase flow processes at the micro-scale. In particular we show how the co-current flow of two viscous fluids leads to greatly enhanced flow conductance for the wetting phase in corners of the pore space, compared to a case where the non-wetting phase is an inviscid gas.
Date Issued
2017-12-21
Date Acceptance
2017-12-19
Citation
Journal of Computational Physics, 2017, 357, pp.159-182
ISSN
0021-9991
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
159
End Page
182
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Computational Physics
Volume
357
Copyright Statement
© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC
BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Sponsor
PETROLEO BRASILEIRO S. A. PETROBRAS
Chevron Energy Technology Company
Maersk Oil Research & Technology Centre
Kuwait Oil Company (KOC)
Grant Number
N/A
N/A
Contract C- 8600003656
15051073
Subjects
01 Mathematical Sciences
02 Physical Sciences
09 Engineering
Applied Mathematics
Publication Status
Published