DyMAS: A Direct Multi-Scale Pore-Level Simulation Approach

ABSTRACT

The recent advancements in high-resolution imaging technology offer the opportunity to generate detailed pore-level domains and highlight the need for efficient and reliable digital core analyzers. Here, a new generation of direct pore-scale simulation techniques called dynamic morphology assisted simulation (DyMAS) is proposed. DyMAS, as a hybrid method, couples pore morphological quasi-static and computational fluid dynamic approaches to simulate immiscible multiphase fluid flow at pore-scale with high computational efficiency. DyMAS is a comprehensive modeling approach that has the capability of dealing with pore structures of a wide range of pore sizes, from intergranular to microporosity, simultaneously. It is a selective approach that updates the governing equations along with the interface development to prevent numerical instabilities associated with the interface reconstruction and volume tracking processes. Gravity, viscous, and capillary forces are all taken into account ensuring accurate simulation of the compound fluid displacement patterns, e.g., splitting and coalescence, viscous fingering, ganglia mobilization, gravity segregation, and capillary trapping.

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