Doctoral Dissertations

Yandong Zhang

Abstract

”Micro-/nanofluidic model, as a potential powerful tool, has been used for decades for investigating fluid flow at pore-scale in energy field. It is still increasingly imperative nowadays to use different micromodels to direct observe pore-level fluid flow and analyze mechanisms of different enhanced oil recovery methods. In this work, three main tasks including three dimensional micromodels (1D,2D,3D) are proposed to fabricate and use for investigating different mechanisms of different enhanced oil recovery methods. For 1D capillary tube micromodel, we fabricate and use it to investigate the dynamics of a trapped oil droplet under seismic vibration. Seismic stimulation is a promising technology aimed to mobilize the entrapped non-wetting fluids in the subsurface. The applications include enhanced oil recovery or CO2 sequestration. For 2D micromodel, we fabricate to mimic unconventional dual-porosity shale-like tight porous media and investigate the fluid flow behavior under such conditions. Unconventional oil reservoirs have become significant sources of petroleum production and have even better potential in the future. Many shale oil systems consist of nanoscale pores and micro-scale fractures that are significantly smaller than those from conventional reservoirs. Therefore, it is increasingly important to investigate fluid flow behaviors in nanoscale channels. For 3D micromodel, we packed and sintered glass beads into quartz tubes to mimic 3D porous media. Because of difficulties for direct visualization, almost all the micromodels available are two-dimensional models which cannot represent real interconnected pore network of a real reservoir porous media. Thus, we build fully transparent 3D models to direct visualize and investigate the in-situ emulsification mechanism for nanogel flooding”--Abstract, page iv.

Advisor(s)

Bai, Baojun

Committee Member(s)

Deng, Wen
Wei, Mingzhen
Flori, Ralph E.
Dunn-Norman, Shari

Department(s)

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering

Degree Name

Ph. D. in Petroleum Engineering

Publisher

Missouri University of Science and Technology

Publication Date

Fall 2020

Journal article titles appearing in thesis/dissertation

  • Experimental investigation of the dynamics of trapped non-wetting droplets subjected to seismic stimulation in constricted tubes
  • Fabrication and verification of a glass-silicon-glass micro-/nanofluidic model for investigating multi-phase flow in shale-like unconventional dual-porosity tight porous media
  • Direct pore-level observation and verification of in- situ oil-in-water pickering emulsification during polymeric nanogel flooding for enhanced oil recovery in a transparent three-dimensional porous medium

Pagination

xiv, 136 pages

Note about bibliography

Includes bibliographic references.

Rights

© 2020 Yandong Zhang, All rights reserved.

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

File Type

text

Language

English

Thesis Number

T 11806

Electronic OCLC #

1240361953

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