Distribution of multiphase fluids in porous media: comparison between lattice Boltzmann modeling and micro-x-ray tomography.
A parallel implementation of the three-dimensional Shan-and-Chen multicomponent, multiphase lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) was used to simulate the equilibrium distributions of two immiscible fluids in porous media. The simulations were successfully validated against cone-beam x-ray microtomographic data on the distribution of oil (decane), water, and air phases in a 5-mm cube of porous medium composed of packed quartz sand grains. The results confirm that LBM models allow for the straightforward incorporation of complex pore space geometry determined from x-ray microtomography measurements and that simulated wetting and nonwetting phase distributions are consistent with x-ray observations on both macroscopic and microscopic scales.
Sukop
Michael C
MC
Department of Earth Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33199, USA.
Huang
Haibo
H
Lin
Chen Luh
CL
Deo
Milind D
MD
Oh
Kyeongseok
K
Miller
Jan D
JD