Saman A. Aryana

Nonequilibrium Effects and Multiphase Flow in Porous Media

In this paper we develop a more general formulation for transient multiphase flow in porous media based on physics observed in core-scale and micromodel experiments. We account for non-equilibrium effects by considering redistribution time and treat saturation by evolving locally moving time-averages of the saturation. Several families of models arise from approximations to the general formulation with various degrees of accuracy. The classical Buckley-Leverett and Barenblatt expressions are special cases of these families. We explore the behaviors of a number of special cases arising from the proposed general formulation using established and novel numerical schemes that provide nonlinear physics-based preconditioning. The agreement observed between numerical and experimental results demonstrates the consistency of the proposed abstraction.

Stabilization of CO2 foam using by-product fly ash and recyclable iron oxide nanoparticles to improve carbon utilization in EOR processes

Fly ash nanoparticles (NPs), a by-product of coal combustion power plants, and recyclable iron oxide NPs are used to stabilize CO2 foam for use in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes as part of carbon capture, utilization and storage. The mean size of fly ash NPs is reduced to the nano-scale (40–80 nm) by a two stage grinding process. Iron oxide (IO) NPs are synthesized through Fe2+ and Fe3+ co-precipitation. The size and uniformity of the dispersion of NPs are characterized via dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy. The stability and formability of NP-stabilized foam are investigated via a modified bulk foam test. The resulting improvement in oil recovery is investigated using flow experiments using a microfluidic device fabricated based on a two-dimensional representation of a Berea sandstone. The effects of the type of NP (fly ash and IO) on CO2 foam stability and the resulting incremental oil recovery are investigated and discussed. The results show that fly ash NPs with an Alpha-Olefin Sulfonate (AOS)–Lauramidopropyl betaine (LAPB) surfactant mixture provide excellent formability and stability (half-life 280 min) and resulted in over 90% recovery of the incremental oil after a waterflood in microfluidic experiments. Moreover, the material cost of fly ash NPs is significantly less than commonly used silica NPs. IO NP stabilized foam has an inferior foam stability and formability compared to fly ash stabilized foam; IO NPs can, however, be recycled using a magnetic field – the average recovery from the outflow of the microfluidic experiments was approximately 76%.

A Workflow for Static Reservoir Modeling Guided by Seismic Data in a Fluvial System

Realistic and accurate static geologic models are an essential element needed to predict the behavior of subsurface reservoirs and play an important role in petroleum engineering. Data used in the development of a static geologic model are gathered from various sources, such as seismic, log, and core data, each of them providing information on different physical properties of interest and with varying degrees of resolution. Compiling all data from various sources into a single representation of the subsurface formation of interest is a daily challenge for many petroleum geologists and engineers. This paper describes a framework to develop and select process-mimicking models that are consistent with available seismic attributes, namely impedance. Using a process-mimicking modeling package, 75 models of a fluvial meandering system are generated, one of which is chosen as the “true” model and masked thereafter. The implemented selection method relies on the degree of similarity in the histogram of representations of clusters of all possible patterns in the seismic impedance domain based on each process-mimicking model and that of the “true” model at several resolutions. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the use of a weighted average divergence distance across multiple levels to select process-mimicking models that honor seismic data the best.

On nonequilibrium models of spontaneous countercurrent imbibition

Spontaneous displacement of the non-wetting phase by a wetting phase in a porous medium, known as spontaneous imbibition, is an important mechanism of oil recovery from fractured reservoirs. In this paper, we consider the nonequilibrium model, proposed by Aryana and Kovscek, where consitutive relationships for multiphase flow in porous media are functions of a locally moving time-average saturation, and allow relaxation time to be an explicit function of local saturation. We obtain asymptotic self-similar solutions for early and late times. At very early stages, the time-scale of the process characterizing the cumulative volume of displaced fluid is a power function with an exponent of 12+12r+1

The impact of geological uncertainty on primary production from a fluvial reservoir

\frac {1}{2}+\frac {1}{2r+1}

On series solution for second order semilinear parabolic IBVPs

where r is the inverse of pore size distribution index of the medium in question. Additionally, the cumulative volume of displaced fluid at late times is independent of relaxation time, and this volume approaches the square root of time asymptotically. Finally, the late-time solution for recovery is compared with experimental observations.

Diffusion-based cartogram on spheres

Deposition of fluvial sandbodies is controlled mainly by characteristics of the system, such as the rate of avulsion and aggradation of the fluvial channels and their geometry. The impact and the interaction of these parameters have not received adequate attention. In this paper, the impact of geological uncertainty resulting from the interpretation of the fluvial geometry, maximum depth of channels, and their avulsion rates on primary production is studied for fluvial reservoirs. Several meandering reservoirs were generated using a process-mimicking package by varying several controlling factors. Simulation results indicate that geometrical parameters of the fluvial channels impact cumulative production during primary production more significantly than their avulsion rate. The most significant factor appears to be the maximum depth of fluvial channels. The overall net-to-gross ratio is closely correlated with the cumulative oil production of the field, but cumulative production values for individual wells do not appear to be correlated with the local net-to-gross ratio calculated in the vicinity of each well. Connectedness of the sandbodies to each well, defined based on the minimum time-of-flight from each block to the well, appears to be a more reliable indicator of well-scale production.

Synthesis of Cross-Linked Poly(acrylamide) Microspheres by Dispersion Polymerisation in Aqueous Ammonium Sulfate Solution

Abstract This paper presents a method to obtain semi-analytical solutions to second order semilinear IBVPs where the standard Adomian decomposition may fail to yield nontrivial solutions or fail to produce the correct partial solutions. In contrast to the standard Adomian decomposition method, the proposed solution method is distinguished by simultaneous inversion of the linear differential operators using eigenfunctions expansion representations. The proposed method is applied to several examples of initial boundary value problems — a linear Advection–Diffusion problem, a Burgers equation and the deterministic Kardar–Parisi–Zhang (KPZ) equation. It is shown that the dependence of the series solution on the truncation order ( N ), the number of eigenfunctions ( M ) and the diffusion coefficient is rather complex.

Numerical Simulation of Three-dimensional Complex Fracture Geometries Using an Unstructured Voronoi Mesh

ABSTRACT A planar cartogram is a two-dimensional map, on which the area of each closed region is in direct proportion to a chosen extensive property. To date, various algorithms have been proposed to construct planar cartograms. This work extends the two-dimensional, diffusion-based, topologically invariant cartogram algorithm proposed by Gastner and Newman onto spheres. Unlike its planar counterpart, the spherical formulation does not require boundary conditions and is invariant to the rotation of input data on the sphere. An implementation of this spherical cartogram transformation is designed to generate readable topology-preserving cartograms on spheres. Lastly, the method is illustrated with applications to global data such as worldwide human population, gross domestic product (purchasing power parity), carbon dioxide emissions and regional data such as the Electoral College of the United States presidential election of 2016.

An experimental investigation of nanoparticle-stabilized CO2 foam used in enhanced oil recovery

Cross-linked poly(acrylamide) microspheres, i.e. PAMBA, with mean diameters ranging from 169.7 to 525.2 nm were prepared by dispersion polymerisation of acrylamide in aqueous ammonium sulfate (AS) solution. N,N′-methylenebis(acrylamide) (MBA), sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), and potassium persulfate (KPS) were selected as the cross-linking agent, stabiliser, and initiator, respectively. The basic conditions for producing PAMBA microspheres, such as the salt concentration and monomer concentration, were optimised based on the precipitation behaviour of the polymer and the state of the product obtained after polymerisation. The optimum AS concentration and monomer concentration were determined as 300 and 88 g L−1, respectively. The effects of parameters, such as SDS concentration, MBA concentration, initiator concentration and temperature, on the product morphology and particle size were investigated by dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy. The results show that the optimum conditions for the generation of microspheres are concentrations of 2.2–8.8 g L−1 for SDS, 4–6 g L−1 for MBA, 0.3–1.0 wt-% based on acrylamide for KPS, and the temperature should be kept at 35–45°C. The mean diameter of the microspheres decreases with an increase in SDS concentration and increases with an increase in MBA concentration. The polydispersity of the microspheres increases when SDS concentration exceeds 6.6 g L−1 as well as when MBA concentration increases. The formation mechanism of the products was discussed based on the results.