A fractal model for streaming potential coefficient in porous media

Streaming potential is the result of coupling between a fluid flow and an electric current in porous rocks. The modified Helmholtz–Smoluchowski equation derived for capillary tubes is mostly used to determine the streaming potential coefficient of porous media. However, to the best of our knowledge, the fractal geometry theory is not yet applied to analyse the streaming potential in porous media. In this article, a fractal model for the streaming potential coefficient in porous media is developed based on the fractal theory of porous media and on the streaming potential in a capillary. The proposed model is expressed in terms of the zeta potential at the solid?liquid interface, the minimum and maximum pore/capillary radii, the fractal dimension, and the porosity of porous media. The model is also examined by using another capillary size distribution available in published articles. The results obtained from the model using two different capillary size distributions are in good agreement with each other. The model predictions are then compared with experimental data in the literature and those based on the modified Helmholtz–Smoluchowski equation. It is shown that the predictions from the proposed fractal model are in good agreement with experimental data. In addition, the proposed model is able to reproduce the same result as the Helmholtz–Smoluchowski equation, particularly for high fluid conductivity or large grain diameters. Other factors influencing the streaming potential coefficient in porous media are also analysed.     

Zeta potential of porous rocks in contact with mixtures of monovalent and divalent electrolytes

The zeta potential is one of the most important parameters influencing the electrokinetic coupling. Most reservoir rocks are saturated or partially saturated by natural water containing various types of ions (mostly monovalent and divalent ions). Therefore, understanding how the zeta potential behaves for mixtures of electrolytes is very important. In this work, measurements of the zeta potential for four different silica-based samples saturated by seven different mixtures of monovalent and divalent electrolytes are then carried out at a fixed ionic strength. It is seen that the magnitude of the measured zeta potential decreases with increasing divalent cation fraction. The experimental results are then explained by a model developed for mixtures of monovalent and divalent electrolytes. The result shows that the theoretical model is able to reproduce the main trend of the variation of the zeta potential with divalent cation fractions. Additionally, the model can fit the experimental data reported in literature well for reasonable values of the input parameters.     

流动电势和电渗压力的连续测量实验研究及低矿化度下Onsager互易性的验证

连续测量岩心的流动电势效应和电渗效应,可以获得岩心的动电渗透率,并验证Onsager互易性.通常这两个实验的岩心夹持器需要使用不同的堵头,而更换堵头会导致岩心内流体的参数和边界条件发生变化.本文设计了新的岩心夹持器和激励压力源,避免了在测量过程中更换堵头,提高了两个实验的一致性.本文测量了蒸馏水、以及0.01、0.02、0.05、0.1、0.2、0.4和0.6 mol/L氯化钠溶液饱和的10块岩心的流动电势效应和电渗效应,获得了动电渗透率,并验证了低矿化度下的Onsager互易性.结果表明,Onsager互易性在低矿化度下是成立的;对于高矿化度,电渗效应能够取代流动电势效应用于反演渗透率.

     

Experimental measurements of the streaming potential and seismoelectric conversion in Berea sandstone

The streaming potential across a porous medium is induced by a fluid flow due to an electric double layer between a solid and a fluid. When an acoustic wave propagates through a porous medium, the wave pressure generates a relative movement between the solid and the fluid. The moving charge in the fluid induces an electric field and seismoelectric conversion. In order to investigate the streaming potential and the seismoelectric conversion in the same rock sample, we conduct measurements with Berea sandstone saturated by NaCl solutions with different conductivities. We measure the electric voltage (streaming potential) across a cylindrical sample in NaCl solutions with different conductivities and under different pressures to determine the DC coupling coefficients. We also measure the seismoelectric signals induced by acoustic waves with a Berea sandstone plate at different frequencies and solution conductivities. The pressures of the acoustic waves are calibrated with a standard hydrophone (Brüel & 8103) at different frequencies (15–120 kHz). We calculate the quantitative coupling coefficients of the seismoelectric conversion at DC and at high frequencies with samples saturated by solutions with different conductivities. When the Berea sandstone sample is saturated by the NaCl solution with 0.32 mS/m in conductivity, for example, the DC and seismoelectric coupling coefficients at 15 kHz are 0.024 μV/Pa and 0.019 μV/Pa, respectively. The seismoelectric coupling coefficient is an important and helpful parameter for designing a seismoelectric tool. More experimental measurements of seismoelectric coupling coefficients in the frequency range of 100 Hz to 15 kHz are needed in the future.     

Acoustic wave propagation in saturated porous media: reformulation of the Biot/Squirt flow theory

A model of wave propagation in fluid-saturated porous media is developed where the principal fluid/solid interaction mode affecting the propagation of the acoustic wave results from the conjunction of the Biot and the Squirt flow mechanism. The difference between the original Biot/Squirt (BISQ) flow theory and the new theory, which we call the reformulated BISQ, is that the average fluid pressure term appearing in the dynamic equation for a two component solid/fluid continuum is independent of squirt flow length. P-velocity and attenuation relate to measurable rock physical parameters: the Biot's poroelastic constants, porosity, permeability, pore fluid compressibility and viscosity. Modelling shows that velocity and attenuation dispersion obtained using the reformulated BISQ theory are of the same order of magnitude as those obtained using the original BISQ theory. Investigation on permeability effect on velocity and attenuation dispersion indicate that the transition zone in velocity and attenuation peak, occurring both at the relaxation frequency, shifts toward high frequency when permeability decreases. This behaviour agrees with Biot's theory prediction.     

孔隙岩样动电特性的实验研究

本文针对流体饱和孔隙介质的动电效应,在实验室内进行了小岩样的动电实验（流动电势实验）测量,获得了10块岩样在6种不同饱和浓度下的流动电势系数,进而分析了饱和溶液浓度、岩样渗透率和泥质含量对流动电势系数的影响,探讨了流动电势系数对上述参数的敏感性,并进一步给出了流动电势系数随这些参数的变化规律.实验结果表明：前人流动电势系数频响曲线中的凹点现象是由实验装置的共振引起,并非岩样动电效应的自身特性.实验还发现：孔隙介质的动电耦合能力与溶液浓度有关,流动电势系数随溶液浓度增大而减小,但在很高浓度溶液中,动电现象依然存在,流动电势系数趋于常数.此外,流动电势系数对地层参数（渗透率和泥质含量）的敏感性受溶液浓度影响较大,随着溶液浓度增大,敏感性降低.因此,可在低浓度饱和情况下（低于0.4 mol/L）,利用流动电势系数的幅度对地层渗透率进行直接评价.本文结果对动电测井的可行性及应用条件给出了实验说明.     

A fractal model for the starting pressure gradient for Bingham fluids in porous media embedded with randomly distributed fractal-like tree networks

An analytical expression is derived for the starting pressure gradient for Bingham fluids in porous media embedded with randomly distributed fractal-like tree networks based on fractal theory and technique. The proposed model relates the flow rate and the starting pressure gradient to the structural parameters of porous media and microstructural parameters of fractal-like tree networks, the yield stress and fractal dimensions of porous media and maximum mother diameter of randomly distributed fractal-like tree networks. The results show that the starting pressure gradient decreases with the increase of porosity of matrix material, fractal dimension for mother diameters, diameter ratio and permeability, and the starting pressure gradient increases with the increase of the length ratio and the yield stress. The model predictions from the present model for the starting pressure gradient are in good agreement with the available expression.     

Physical splitting of nonlinear effects in high-velocity stable flow through porous media

For a high-velocity stable flow through a periodic corrugated channel representing an element of porous medium, we suggest splitting the overall nonlinear macroscopic effects into two kinds of different physical origin: a pure inertia effect produced by the convective term of Navier–Stokes equations and an inertia–viscous cross effect representing a variation of the viscous dissipation due to a streamline deformation by inertia forces. We will show that the inertia–viscous cross effects may be revealed by simulating a periodic flow, whilst the pure inertia effects are produced by the microscale flow nonperiodicity. We will reveal the individual flow law for each nonlinear component and analyze the relative role of both components numerically by using the finite element method applied to the Navier–Stokes equations. Both the pure inertia and the inertia–viscous cross effects are revealed to be exponential prior to quadratic or cubic ones. The influence of the dead volume is analyzed. The inertia–viscous cross phenomena are shown to be negligible when the flow structure is clearly nonperiodic.     

Impact of geometrical properties on permeability and fluid phase distribution in porous media

To predict fluid phase distribution in porous media, the effect of geometric properties on flow processes must be understood. In this study, we analyze the effect of volume, surface, curvature and connectivity (the four Minkowski functionals) on the hydraulic conductivity and the water retention curve. For that purpose, we generated 12 artificial structures with 800³ voxels (the units of a 3D image) and compared them with a scanned sand sample of the same size. The structures were generated with a Boolean model based on a random distribution of overlapping ellipsoids whose size and shape were chosen to fulfill the criteria of the measured functionals. The pore structure of sand material was mapped with X-rays from synchrotrons.     

Optimal removal of topological artefacts in microtomographic images of porous materials

The analysis of flow at the pore scale in porous media has been facilitated with the use of microtomography. A powerful tool for quantifying the fluid structure using these tomographic 3D reconstructions is skeletonisation, but the significant disadvantage of this method is its sensitivity to noise, resulting in artefacts in the skeleton. A pre-processing of the 3D image is therefore required, but no method has yet proven to completely solve this problem. By developing a new procedure that, by construction, directly identifies the voxels and only those that are responsible for topological artefacts in the skeleton, we are able to remove all artefacts, and furthermore can prove that we do so by modifying a minimal amount of voxels in the segmented 3D image (i.e. the tomographic image in which each voxel has been assigned to either the porous or the solid phase). This is possible by identifying the three fundamental types of artefacts that can arise in a 3D skeleton, and dealing with each appropriately. Application to a microtomographic image of a sintered glass powder is presented. Impact of the different processing methods on the flow within its porosity is measured through the computed permeability deviations.     

Finite-difference modeling with variable grid-size and adaptive time-step in porous media

Forward modeling of elastic wave propagation in porous media has great importance for understanding and interpreting the influences of rock properties on characteristics of seismic wavefield. However,the finite-difference forward-modeling method is usually implemented with global spatial grid-size and time-step; it consumes large amounts of computational cost when small-scaled oil/gas-bearing structures or large velocity-contrast exist underground. To overcome this handicap,combined with variable grid-size and time-step,this paper developed a staggered-grid finite-difference scheme for elastic wave modeling in porous media. Variable finite-difference coefficients and wavefield interpolation were used to realize the transition of wave propagation between regions of different grid-size. The accuracy and efficiency of the algorithm were shown by numerical examples. The proposed method is advanced with low computational cost in elastic wave simulation for heterogeneous oil/gas reservoirs.     

A computational model for coupled multiphysics processes of CO2 sequestration in fractured porous media

In this paper, a computational model for the simulation of coupled hydromechanical and electrokinetic flow in fractured porous media is introduced. Particular emphasis is placed on modeling CO₂ flow in a deformed, fractured geological formation and the associated electrokinetic flow. The governing field equations are derived based on the averaging theory and the double porosity model. They are solved numerically with a mixed discretization scheme, formulated on the basis of the standard Galerkin finite element method, the extended finite element method, the level-set method and the Petrov–Galerkin method. The standard Galerkin method is utilized to discretize the equilibrium and the diffusive dominant field equations, and the extended finite element method, together with the level-set method and the Petrov–Galerkin method, are utilized to discretize the advective dominant field equations. The level-set method is employed to trace the CO₂ plume front, and the extended finite element method is employed to model the high gradient in the saturation field front. The proposed mixed discretization scheme leads to a convergent system, giving a stable and effectively mesh-independent model. The accuracy and computational efficiency of the proposed model is evaluated by verification and numerical examples. Effects of the fracture spacing on the CO₂ flow and the streaming potential are discussed.     

储层岩石流动电位频散特性的数学模拟

利用储层岩石流动电位的频散特性评价复杂储层已经成为勘探地球物理领域关注的热点,但是目前还没有形成基于储层岩石储渗特性及电化学性质的具有普遍指导意义的理论方法和数学模型.本文利用微观毛管理论,通过随时间谐变条件下渗流场和电流场的耦合模型,建立了描述储层岩石流动电位频散特性的数学方法,定量分析了频率域储层岩石动态渗透率、动电耦合系数和流动电位耦合系数随储层岩石孔隙度、溶液浓度和阳离子交换量的变化规律.研究结果表明:储层岩石流动电位频散特性是储层流体惯性力与流体黏滞力相互作用的结果.储层岩石孔隙度越大,储层维持流体原有运动状态的能力越大,临界频率越小;储层岩石的溶液浓度和阳离子交换量对临界频率没有影响.储层岩石的孔隙度越大,流体流动能力越强,流动电位各耦合系数的数值越大;溶液浓度越小或阳离子交换量越大,孔隙固液界面的双电层作用越强,各耦合系数的数值越大.     

含流体孔隙介质中面波的传播特性及应用

基于单相介质中地震波理论的高频面波法已广泛应用于求取浅地表S波的速度.然而水文地质条件表明, 普遍的浅地表地球介质富含孔隙.孔隙中充填的流体会显著地影响面波在浅地表的传播, 进而造成频散和衰减的变化.本文研究了地震勘探频段内针对含流体孔隙介质边界条件的面波的传播特性.孔隙流体在自由表面存在完全疏通、完全闭合以及部分疏通的情况.孔隙单一流体饱和时, 任何流体边界条件下存在R1模式波, 与弹性介质中的 Rayleigh 波类似, 相速度稍小于S波并在地震记录中显示强振幅.由于介质的内在衰减, R1在均匀半空间中也存在频散, 相速度和衰减在不同流体边界下存在差异.Biot 固流耦合系数(孔隙流体黏滞度与骨架渗透率之比)控制频散的特征频率, 高耦合系数会在地震勘探频带内明显消除这种差异.介质的迂曲度等其他物性参数对不同流体边界下的R1波的影响也有不同的敏感度.完全闭合和部分疏通流体边界下存在R2模式波, 相速度略低于慢P波.在多数条件下, 如慢P波在时频响应中难以观察到.但是在耦合系数较低时会显现, 一定条件下甚至会以非物理波形式接收R1波的辐射, 显示强振幅.浅表风化层低速带存在, 震源激发时的运动会显著影响面波的传播.对于接收点径向运动会造成面波的 Doppler 频移, 横向运动会造成面波的时频畸变.孔隙存在多相流体时, 中观尺度下不均匀斑块饱和能很好地解释体波在地震频带内的衰减.快P波受到斑块饱和显著影响, R1波与快P波有更明显关联, 与完全饱和模型中不同, 也更易于等效模型建立.频散特征频率受孔隙空间不同流体成分比例变化的控制, 为面波方法探测浅地表流体分布与迁移提供可能性.通常情况孔隙介质频散特征频率较高, 标准线性黏弹性固体可以在相对低频的地震勘探频带内等效表征孔隙介质中R1波的传播特征, 特别在时域, 可在面波成像反演建模中应用.     

Upscaling microbial chemotaxis in porous media

Biodegradation is an important mechanism for contaminant reduction in groundwater environments; in fact, in situ bioremediation and bioaugmentation methods represent alternatives to traditional methods such as pump-and-treat. Microbial chemotaxis has been shown to significantly increase contaminant degradation in subsurface environments. In this work, the method of volume averaging is used to upscale the microscale chemotactic microbial transport equations in order to obtain the corresponding effective medium models for the mass balance of bacteria and the chemical attractant to which they respond. As a first approach, cellular growth/death and consumption of the attractant by chemical reaction are assumed to be negligible with respect to convective and diffusive transport mechanisms. For microorganisms, two effective coefficients are introduced, namely a total motility tensor and a total velocity vector. Our results show that, under certain conditions, these coefficients can differ considerably from the values corresponding to non-chemotactic transport. These transport coefficients show strong dependence of the microstructure of the porous medium, the fluid flow fields and the distribution of the attractant.     

Influence of water pressure dynamics and fluid flow on the streaming‐potential response for unsaturated conditions

Streaming‐potentials are produced by electrokinetic effects in relation to fluid flow and are used for geophysical prospecting. The aim of this study is to model streaming potential measurements for unsaturated conditions using an empirical approach. A conceptual model is applied to streaming potential measurements obtained from two drainage experiments in sand. The streaming potential data presented here show a non‐monotonous behaviour with increasing water saturation, following a pattern that cannot be predicted by existing models. A model involving quasi‐static and dynamic components is proposed to reproduce the streaming potential measurements. The dynamic component is based on the first time derivative of the driving pore pressure. The influence of this component is investigated with respect to fluid velocity, which is very different between the two experiments. The results demonstrate that the dynamic component is predominant at the onset of drainage in experiments with the slowest water flow. On the other hand, its influence appears to vanish with increasing drainage velocity. Our results suggest that fluid flow and water distribution at the pore scale have an important influence on the streaming potential response for unsaturated conditions. We propose to explain this specific streaming potential response in terms of the behaviour of both rock/water interface and water/air interfaces created during desaturation processes. The water/air interfaces are negatively charged, as also observed in the case of water/rock interfaces. Both the surface area and the flow velocity across these interfaces are thought to contribute to the non‐monotonous behaviour of the streaming potential coefficient as well as the variations in its amplitude. The non‐monotonous behaviour of air/water interfaces created during the flow was highlighted as it was measured and modelled by studies published in the literature. The streaming potential coefficient can increase to about 10 to 40 when water saturation decreases. Such an increase is possible if the amount of water/air interfaces is increased in sufficient amount, which can be the case.     

Modeling non-equilibrium mass transport in biologically reactive porous media

We develop a one-equation non-equilibrium model to describe the Darcy-scale transport of a solute undergoing biodegradation in porous media. Most of the mathematical models that describe the macroscale transport in such systems have been developed intuitively on the basis of simple conceptual schemes. There are two problems with such a heuristic analysis. First, it is unclear how much information these models are able to capture; that is, it is not clear what the model's domain of validity is. Second, there is no obvious connection between the macroscale effective parameters and the microscopic processes and parameters. As an alternative, a number of upscaling techniques have been developed to derive the appropriate macroscale equations that are used to describe mass transport and reactions in multiphase media. These approaches have been adapted to the problem of biodegradation in porous media with biofilms, but most of the work has focused on systems that are restricted to small concentration gradients at the microscale. This assumption, referred to as the local mass equilibrium approximation, generally has constraints that are overly restrictive. In this article, we devise a model that does not require the assumption of local mass equilibrium to be valid. In this approach, one instead requires only that, at sufficiently long times, anomalous behaviors of the third and higher spatial moments can be neglected; this, in turn, implies that the macroscopic model is well represented by a convection–dispersion–reaction type equation. This strategy is very much in the spirit of the developments for Taylor dispersion presented by Aris (1956). On the basis of our numerical results, we carefully describe the domain of validity of the model and show that the time-asymptotic constraint may be adhered to even for systems that are not at local mass equilibrium.     

An extended stability criterion for density-driven flows in homogeneous porous media

Stability of density-driven flows is a challenging problem with current applications in major areas like energy exploration, water pollution, nuclear and oil industries. The mathematical model for such flows is a system of coupled non linear partial differential equations. To study the physical stability of the system, we consider steady-state flow and perturb the solution of the full system of equations (without Boussinesq approximation) and investigate how it evolves in time: if the solution does not grow indefinitely, the system is called stable. The perturbations are treated as being the result of sub-scale interactions between the velocity field and the solute mass. Making use of a two-scale expansion of the solution, we derived extended stability criteria that include the effects of density, viscosity and flow velocity in flow configurations aligned parallel as well as orthogonal to gravity forces. Numerical simulations with the numerical simulator d³f$d^{3}f$ are presented to test the theoretical stability criteria.