Experimental Visualization and Analysis of Multiphase Immiscible Flow in Fractured Micromodels Using Micro-Particle Image Velocimetry

Abstract

Abstract The study of fluid flow through fractured porous media has drawn immense interest in the fields of soil hydrology, enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and others. In this work, a low cost fractured micromodel with regular pore geometry is fabricated and visualization experiments are performed to study the flow field produced by single-phase and two-phase immiscible flow. The fractured micromodel is fabricated using Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate. The micro-PIV method is applied to map the flow velocity, both at the throat and near the fracture region of micromodel. In two-phase flow, imbibition flow experiments are performed to investigate the effects of fracture on the front migration caused by the trapping mechanism of residual fluid (displaced phase). The velocity distribution obtained for the two-phase flow revealed many peculiarities that are completely different from the single-phase flow pattern. These peculiarities create instabilities that yield random preferential flow paths near the pockets of stagnant fluid. Such dynamic events are quantified by mapping the velocity magnitude of flow fields. No effects of fracture are seen in the single-phase flow where uniform flow patterns are observed in the porous region. However, for the two-phase flow, more pockets of trapped fluids are found at the junction of two fractures.