Multiphase Flow In Porous Media

Abstract

The field of two-phase flow through porous media is currently undergoing intense development following many years of relatively sluggish activity. This makes it difficult to present a definitive account at this time. Even classical concepts such as relative permeabilities [the cornerstones of which were laid down by M. Muskat and coworkers long ago (cf. Section 3)] are now seriously questioned. Owing to this provisional state, we adopt a conservative attitude in organizing this review by adhering closely to chronological developments in the field. Historically, global macro scale conservation laws and consti­ tutive equations were developed merely by analogy with comparable enti­ ties already existing for single-phase flow in porous media. As such, these relations may be regarded as semiempirical in nature. For example, per­ tinent quantities such as relative permeabilities were invariably measured experimentally rather than calculated or estimated from basic physical principles. This reflected the generally poor predictive power of such governing laws. This strictly phenomenological focus endured from roughly the early 1930s until the 1960s, when attention shifted to local, micro scale phenom­ ena. These proved difficult to analyze owing to both the tortuous geometry of porous media and the influence of capillarity. Since pore dimensions