Publications

Pore-Level Simulation of Heavy Oil and Bitumen Recovery Using the Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD)

Behrang, A., Eternad S., Mohammadmoradi, P., Kantzas, A.

DOI:
The Society of Core Analysts Annual Symposium 2016, SCA2016-065.

ABSTRACT

A CFD-based numerical solver is developed to simulate the pore-scale behaviour of SAGD process, including phase change phenomena (i.e., condensation and vaporization). During the simulation a complete set of mass conservation and Navier-Stokes momentum and energy equations under non-isothermal condition are solved simultaneously. In addition to take phase change phenomena into account, the flow pattern in porous media is well-demonstrated. Then, the solver is validated against visualization experimental studies of SAGD process available in the literature. The results include a demonstration of a series of pore-scale events particularly in the vicinity of the bitumen-steam interface. The results of this study are a part of the larger investigation the objective of which is to understand deeply physics of complex multiphase flow in heterogeneous structures.

A full version of this paper is available on SCA Online on Page 119 of the PDF Document.