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Geological and Atmospheric Sciences

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Full-Text Articles in Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering

Direct Pore‐Level Observation Of Permeability Increase In Two‐Phase Flow By Shaking, Igor A. Beresnev, William Gaul, R. Dennis Vigil Oct 2011

Direct Pore‐Level Observation Of Permeability Increase In Two‐Phase Flow By Shaking, Igor A. Beresnev, William Gaul, R. Dennis Vigil

R. Dennis Vigil

Increases in permeability of natural reservoirs and aquifers by passing seismic waves have been well documented. If the physical causes of this phenomenon can be understood, technological applications would be possible for controlling the flow in hydrologic systems or enhancing production from oil reservoirs. The explanation of the dynamically increased mobility of underground fluids must lie at the pore level. The natural fluids can be viewed as two-phase systems, composed of water as the wetting phase and of dispersed non-wetting globules of gas or organic fluids, flowing through tortuous constricted channels. Capillary forces prevent free motion of the suspended non-wetting …


Thickness Of Residual Wetting Film In Liquid-Liquid Displacement, Igor A. Beresnev, William Gaul, R .Dennis Vigil Aug 2011

Thickness Of Residual Wetting Film In Liquid-Liquid Displacement, Igor A. Beresnev, William Gaul, R .Dennis Vigil

R. Dennis Vigil

Core-annular flow is common in nature, representing, for example, how streams of oil, surrounded by water, move in petroleum reservoirs. Oil, typically a nonwetting fluid, tends to occupy the middle (core) part of a channel, while water forms a surrounding wall-wetting film. What is the thickness of the wetting film? A classic theory has been in existence for nearly 50 years offering a solution, although in a controversial manner, for moving gas bubbles. On the other hand, an acceptable, experimentally verified theory for a body of one liquid flowing in another has not been available. Here we develop a hydrodynamic, …


Forced Instability Of Core-Annular Flow In Capillary Constrictions, Igor A. Beresnev, William Gaul, R. Dennis Vigil Jul 2011

Forced Instability Of Core-Annular Flow In Capillary Constrictions, Igor A. Beresnev, William Gaul, R. Dennis Vigil

R. Dennis Vigil

Instability of fluid cylinders and jets, a highly nonlinear hydrodynamic phenomenon, has fascinated researchers for nearly 150 years. A subset of the phenomenon is the core-annular flow, in which a non-wetting core fluid and a surrounding wall-wetting annulus flow through a solid channel. The model, for example, represents the flow of oil in petroleum reservoirs. The flow may be forced to break up when passing through a channel’s constriction. Although it has long been observed that the breakup occurs near the neck of the constriction, the exact conditions for the occurrence of the forced breakup and its dynamic theory have …


Elastic Waves Push Organic Fluids From Reservoir Rock, Igor A. Beresnev, R. Dennis Vigil, Wenqing Li, Wayne D. Pennington, Roger M. Turpening, Pavel P. Iassonov, Robert P. Ewing Jul 2005

Elastic Waves Push Organic Fluids From Reservoir Rock, Igor A. Beresnev, R. Dennis Vigil, Wenqing Li, Wayne D. Pennington, Roger M. Turpening, Pavel P. Iassonov, Robert P. Ewing

R. Dennis Vigil

Elastic waves have been observed to increase productivity of oil wells, although the reason for the vibratory mobilization of the residual organic fluids has remained unclear. Residual oil is entrapped as ganglia in pore constrictions because of resisting capillary forces. An external pressure gradient exceeding an ‘‘unplugging’’ threshold is needed to carry the ganglia through. The vibrations help overcome this resistance by adding an oscillatory inertial forcing to the external gradient; when the vibratory forcing acts along the gradient and the threshold is exceeded, instant ‘‘unplugging’’ occurs. The mobilization effect is proportional to the amplitude and inversely proportional to the …