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Journal name Transport in Porous Media
ISSN 0169-3913
Publisher Kluwer Academic Publishers Group
Issue 2001 - volume 43 - issue 3
Page 487 - 510
Link to Kluwer Academic Publishers Group homepage
 

  A Theoretical Model of Hysteresis and Dynamic Effects in the Capillary Relation for Two-phase Flow in Porous Media
  Beliaev, A. Yu.; Hassanizadeh, S. M.

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  Keywords
  Two-phase flow, capillary pressure, hysteresis, capillary dynamic effects, thermodynamics of porous media,
 
  Abstract
 

It is well known that the relationship between capillary pressure and saturation, in two-phase flow problems demonstrates memory effects and, in particular, hysteresis. Explicit representation of full hysteresis with a myriad of scanning curves in models of multiphase flow has been a difficult problem. A second complication relates to the fact that P^c-S relationships, determined under static conditions, are not necessarily valid in dynamics. There exist P^c-S relationships which take into account dynamic effects. But the combination of hysteretic and dynamic effects in the capillary relationship has not been considered yet. In this paper, we have developed new models of capillary hysteresis which also include dynamic effects. In doing so, thermodynamic considerations are employed to ensure the admissibility of the new relationships. The simplest model is constructed around main imbibition and drainage curves and assumes that all scanning curves are vertical lines. The dynamic effect is taken into account by introducing a damping coefficient in P^c-S equation. A second-order model of hysteresis with inclined scanning curves is also developed. The simplest version of proposed models is applied to two-phase incompressible flow and an example problem is solved.

 
   
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