Network modeling of multiphase ̄ow in fractures
نویسندگان
چکیده
We develop a pore-scale model of wetting in a single fracture. A variable fracture aperture distribution is represented as a square lattice of conceptual pores connected by throats. We borrow concepts from network modeling of ̄ow in porous media to generate a fracture model that includes the eects of ̄ow in wetting layers, snap-o, and cooperative piston-like advance. Cooperative ®lling accounts for both the curvature of the wetting front in the fracture plane and the eect of the fracture aperture itself. Viscous forces are accounted for using a perturbative method and simulations are performed for horizontal ̄ow, as well as gravity stable and gravity unstable displacements. The wetting phase relative permeability and the trapped non-wetting phase saturation are computed for a fracture whose aperture distribution has been measured using CT scanning. Ó 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
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