Relationship between Blocking Performance and Foam Texture in Porous Media

Foam is widely used as a selective blocking agent through mobility control in oil field development. Its flow behavior in porous media has been investigated sufficiently, but few studies were carried out to understand the change of foam texture in flow. In this work, sandpack and micromodel experime...

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Main Authors: Zhuangzhuang Wang, Zhaomin Li, Hailong Chen, Fei Wang, Dawei Hou, Yajie Xu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2019-01-01
Series:Geofluids
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2019/6315947
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author Zhuangzhuang Wang
Zhaomin Li
Hailong Chen
Fei Wang
Dawei Hou
Yajie Xu
author_facet Zhuangzhuang Wang
Zhaomin Li
Hailong Chen
Fei Wang
Dawei Hou
Yajie Xu
author_sort Zhuangzhuang Wang
collection DOAJ
description Foam is widely used as a selective blocking agent through mobility control in oil field development. Its flow behavior in porous media has been investigated sufficiently, but few studies were carried out to understand the change of foam texture in flow. In this work, sandpack and micromodel experiments were conducted simultaneously to analyze foam flow behavior from the perspective of foam texture. Based on the measured flowing pressure and the observed foam image, the correlation between blocking pressure and foam texture was quantitatively investigated. The blocking pressure has a strong correlation with average diameter (-0.906) and variation coefficient (-0.78) and has a positive correlation with the filling ratio (0.84). These indicate that the blocking performance of foam is influenced by its texture closely. But path analysis shows only that the average diameter and variation coefficient have a significant direct effect on blocking pressure (-0.624 and -0.404). These show that the blocking capacity of foam is mainly influenced by the size and uniformity of bubbles. Tiny, dense, and homogeneous foam has a stronger blocking capacity. This study provides a deep insight of foam flow in porous media.
format Article
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institution Kabale University
issn 1468-8115
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language English
publishDate 2019-01-01
publisher Wiley
record_format Article
series Geofluids
spelling doaj-art-1a8e608a1f2a4874b3ed0d8e25cd20ec2025-08-20T03:54:23ZengWileyGeofluids1468-81151468-81232019-01-01201910.1155/2019/63159476315947Relationship between Blocking Performance and Foam Texture in Porous MediaZhuangzhuang Wang0Zhaomin Li1Hailong Chen2Fei Wang3Dawei Hou4Yajie Xu5College of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao, 266580 Shandong, ChinaCollege of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao, 266580 Shandong, ChinaCollege of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao, 266580 Shandong, ChinaGeo-Energy Research Institute, Faculty of Electromechanical Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266061 Shandong, ChinaCollege of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao, 266580 Shandong, ChinaCollege of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao, 266580 Shandong, ChinaFoam is widely used as a selective blocking agent through mobility control in oil field development. Its flow behavior in porous media has been investigated sufficiently, but few studies were carried out to understand the change of foam texture in flow. In this work, sandpack and micromodel experiments were conducted simultaneously to analyze foam flow behavior from the perspective of foam texture. Based on the measured flowing pressure and the observed foam image, the correlation between blocking pressure and foam texture was quantitatively investigated. The blocking pressure has a strong correlation with average diameter (-0.906) and variation coefficient (-0.78) and has a positive correlation with the filling ratio (0.84). These indicate that the blocking performance of foam is influenced by its texture closely. But path analysis shows only that the average diameter and variation coefficient have a significant direct effect on blocking pressure (-0.624 and -0.404). These show that the blocking capacity of foam is mainly influenced by the size and uniformity of bubbles. Tiny, dense, and homogeneous foam has a stronger blocking capacity. This study provides a deep insight of foam flow in porous media.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2019/6315947
spellingShingle Zhuangzhuang Wang
Zhaomin Li
Hailong Chen
Fei Wang
Dawei Hou
Yajie Xu
Relationship between Blocking Performance and Foam Texture in Porous Media
Geofluids
title Relationship between Blocking Performance and Foam Texture in Porous Media
title_full Relationship between Blocking Performance and Foam Texture in Porous Media
title_fullStr Relationship between Blocking Performance and Foam Texture in Porous Media
title_full_unstemmed Relationship between Blocking Performance and Foam Texture in Porous Media
title_short Relationship between Blocking Performance and Foam Texture in Porous Media
title_sort relationship between blocking performance and foam texture in porous media
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2019/6315947
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AT zhaominli relationshipbetweenblockingperformanceandfoamtextureinporousmedia
AT hailongchen relationshipbetweenblockingperformanceandfoamtextureinporousmedia
AT feiwang relationshipbetweenblockingperformanceandfoamtextureinporousmedia
AT daweihou relationshipbetweenblockingperformanceandfoamtextureinporousmedia
AT yajiexu relationshipbetweenblockingperformanceandfoamtextureinporousmedia