Abstract
Fractures play an important role as flow paths in porous media. When an undersaturated reactive fluid is flowing in a fracture, the dissolution process will alter the flow paths locally. Dissolution patterns grow slowly, but they may lead to a dramatic reorganization of the flow. Here, we study dissolution in a radial geometry, which is relevant for a number of practical applications, e.g. the acidization of oil reservoirs. Different dissolution patterns are presented in a phase diagram with the Peclet and Damkohler numbers as parameters. We also analyze quantitatively the density of wormholes and the relation between the aperture roughness and the ramified patterns.
Highlights
When a fluid flows in a fractured rock, the permeability of the fractures is usually much larger than the permeability of the porous matrix
The dissolution patterns evolution with time are obtained by a sequence of images, see Figures 2, 3
The problem of flow-induced fracture dissolution has received a lot of interest in recent years due to its importance in geological phenomena as well as industrial applications
Summary
When a fluid flows in a fractured rock, the permeability of the fractures is usually much larger than the permeability of the porous matrix. An important application for the oil industry is acidization: the injection of a reactive liquid to increase the permeability of the oil reservoir near a production well [15, 16] Another example is found in the geothermal industry where fluid dissolution is used to increase the surface available for the fluid flow in order to improve heat exchange in the fractures [17,18,19]. In the present study we have experimentally analyzed a phase diagram for reactive dissolution inside a single fracture in a radial geometry at different flow rates and aperture widths.
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