BP Oil Ganglia Transport In Transparent Porous Media At Low Capillary Number

Using video-capillary-microscopy, microscopic packed beds were constructed inside capillaries, using cryolite as the porous medium.   When such packed bed was filled with an aqueous surfactant solution, the cryolite was rendered transparent.   Oil droplets were injected inside or next to the porous media and their flow/mobilization was monitored.  Pressure-driven flow was induced at varying pressure gradients and at different concentrations of key surfactants.  At low capillary number, e.g., superficial flow rate on the order of 10^-2ml/min, the motion of oil phase is mainly driven by capillary force.  The change of the oil phase from ganglia to small droplets of a size comparable to that of the pores, was captured in film.  Subsequent analysis of the multiphase flow revealed the evolution of the flow patterns along the axis of the capillary.  The talk will show videos of the oil mobilization phenomena and will present the conclusions of this on-going research to date.