My research interests include how the porescale influences single and multiphase fluid flow in fractured rock and porous media. I am currently using lattice Boltzmann modeling techniques to investigate supercritical CO2 flows through fractures. Previouslyt I have conducted fieldscale fracture rock investigations, resedimentation experiments, and reservoir condition wetting experiments.
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On the left is supercritical CO2 (red) invading a fracture with heterogenous wetting distributions applied on the fracture walls. On the right is the same fracture and wetting distribution but with the wetting forces increased 50 percent. The wetting and aperture distributions cause large residually trapped brine (blue) to be trapped in the fracture. These trapped clusters reduce the relative permeability of the fracture.
Sinusoidal slug tests have been shown to be an effective way of evaluating well connectivity within a fractured rock system. Besides being more sensitive to local heterogeneity these tests have many practical advantages over traditional aquifer testing techniques.
Resedimentation techniques can be used to create artifical mudstones. Here, I've created a variety of mudstones with a different proportions of quartz, lime, and kaolinite and measured entry pressure, breakthrough pressure, and permeability. With knowledge of the grain size distributions of each sample these properties can be related directly to the void ratio of the fine grains.
Porescale multiphase fluid experiments can be performed at reservoir conditions and analyzed using X-ray imaging. Here is an example of a supercritical CO2/brine contact angle measurement on the Barnett Shale. Understanding the wettability of multiphase systems is important for predicting the volume of CO2 that can be safely stored during carbon sequestration projects and for conducting enhanced oil recovery projects in depleted reservoirs.