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Imaging and Resistivity Studies of Saturation Gradients in Two-Phase Flow in 3-D Porous Media

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2011

E. H. Kawamoto  and
Po-Zen Wong
E. H. Kawamoto
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, U. S. A.
Po-Zen Wong
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, U. S. A.
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Abstract

We have carried out x-ray radiography and computed tomography (CT) to study two-phase flow in 3-D porous media. Air-brine displacement was imaged for drainage and imbibition experiments in a vertical column of glass beads. By correlating water saturation S w with resistance R, we find that there is a threshold saturation S * ≈ 0.2, above which R(S W ) ∼ S w −2, in agreement with the empirical Archie relation. This holds true for both drainage and imbibition with littlehysteresis, provided that S w remains above S *. Should S w drop below S * during drainage, R(S w ) rises above the Archie prediction, exhibiting strong hysteresis upon reimbibition. This behavior suggests a transition in the connectivity of the water phase near S *, possibly due to percolation effects.

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Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 464: Symposium FF – Dynamics in Small Confining Systems III , 1996 , 371
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1997

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References

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