Non-isothermal two-phase flow in low-permeable porous media

Abstract

In this paper, we consider non-isothermal two-phase flow of two components (air and water) in gaseous and liquid phases in extremely low-permeable porous media through the use of the finite element method (FEM). Interphase mass transfer of the components between any of the phases is evaluated by assuming local thermodynamic equilibrium between the phases. Heat transfer occurs by conduction and multiphase advection. General equations of state for phase changes (Clausius–Clapeyron and Henry law) as well as multiphase properties for the low-permeable bentonites are implemented in the code. Additionally we consider the impact of swelling/shrinking processes on porosity and permeability changes. The numerical model is implemented in the context of the simulator RockFlow/RockMech (RF/RM), which is based on object-oriented programming techniques. The finite element formulations are written in terms of dimensionless quantities. This has proved to be advantageous for preconditioning composite system matrices of coupled multi-field problems. Three application examples are presented. The first one examines differences between the Richards’ approximation and the multicomponent/multiphase approach, and between two numerical coupling schemes. The second example serves as partial verification against experimental results and to demonstrate coherence between different element types. The last example shows simultaneous desaturation and resaturation in one system.