Abstract

Abstract The experimental determination of transport properties of low permeability clay rocks, especially of relative permeabilities and capillary pressure curves for water and gas, is a very challenging issue, in particular at high water saturation (very low gas permeability resulting in long equilibration times) and for gaseous hydrogen (due to the high pressures involved and the resulting explosion risk). Navier-Stokes equations are solved inside a porous medium on the pore scale, so as to derive the absolute and relative (two-phase-flow) permeabilities. For this purpose microtomography data of Opalinus clay samples acquired in the Mont Terri Ventilation Experiment are used to visualize the pore space in 3D at a micrometric scale (porosity size >0.7 µm). The corresponding percolating porosity is mainly composed of micrometric cracks parallel to the bedding and attributed to shrinkage. Two-phase flow is calculated in the percolating cracks by an immiscible Lattice Boltzmann (LBM) code. In addition, some validation results of the LBM model for three-phase systems (liquid-gas-solid) are presented.

Full Text
Paper version not known

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.