Study of gas slippage factor in anisotropic porous media using the lattice Boltzmann method

Abstract

In unconventional reservoir rocks, pore anisotropy and gas high Knudsen number (Kn) effect are prominent, while gas slippage factor is a crucial parameter to evaluate their apparent permeability. To analyze the correlation of gas slippage factor with pore anisotropy of porous media and Kn, two-dimensional bundle models and anisotropic porous media with same characteristic length were skillfully constructed in this work. A multi-relaxation-time Lattice Boltzmann model combining diffusive reflection boundary condition and Bosanquet-type viscosity model was applied to simulate gas high-Kn flow (Kn = 0.05–0.53) in them. The results showed that Kn and pore-scale anisotropy jointly determine gas slippage factor of anisotropic porous media, which has nothing to do with porosity, specific surface area, and intrinsic permeability in nature. Pore-scale anisotropy leads to the distinct nonlinear changes of gas slippage factor with Kn. When pore-scale anisotropy factor is between 5.37 and 14.58, gas slippage factor of porous media is positively correlated with Kn. But as pore-scale anisotropy factor is in a range from 1.0 to 5.37, gas slippage factor decreases with an increase of Kn. In addition, gas slippage factor of porous media increases with an increase of pore-scale anisotropy as Kn is in a range of 0.18 to 0.53. This work further improves the understanding of gas slippage factor and gas high-Kn effect in anisotropic porous media.