IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v15y2022i7p2521-d782788.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Molecular Simulation Study and Analytical Model for Oil–Water Two-Phase Fluid Transport in Shale Inorganic Nanopores

Author

Listed:
  • Wei Zhang

    (School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, China
    Key Laboratory of Unconventional Oil & Gas Development (China University of Petroleum (East China)), Ministry of Education, Qingdao 266580, China)

  • Qihong Feng

    (School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, China
    Key Laboratory of Unconventional Oil & Gas Development (China University of Petroleum (East China)), Ministry of Education, Qingdao 266580, China)

  • Sen Wang

    (School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, China
    Key Laboratory of Unconventional Oil & Gas Development (China University of Petroleum (East China)), Ministry of Education, Qingdao 266580, China)

  • Xianmin Zhang

    (School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, China
    Key Laboratory of Unconventional Oil & Gas Development (China University of Petroleum (East China)), Ministry of Education, Qingdao 266580, China)

  • Jiyuan Zhang

    (School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, China
    Key Laboratory of Unconventional Oil & Gas Development (China University of Petroleum (East China)), Ministry of Education, Qingdao 266580, China)

  • Xiaopeng Cao

    (School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, China
    Key Laboratory of Unconventional Oil & Gas Development (China University of Petroleum (East China)), Ministry of Education, Qingdao 266580, China
    Exploration and Development Research Institute, SINOPEC Shengli Oilfield Company, Dongying 257015, China
    Key Laboratory on Exploration and Development for Unconventional Oil and Gas of Shandong Province (Preparation), Dongying 257015, China)

Abstract

Shale reservoirs contain omnipresent nanopores. The fluid transport phenomena on the nanoscale are significantly different from that on the macroscale. The understandings of fluid transport behavior, especially multiphase flow, are still ambiguous on the nanoscale and the traditional hydrodynamic models are insufficient to describe the fluid flow in shale. In this work, we firstly use a molecular dynamics simulation to study the oil–water two-phase flow in shale inorganic quartz nanopores and investigated the unique interfacial phenomena and their influences on fluid transport in a confined nanospace. The results of the molecular simulation revealed that the water-oil-water layered structure was formed in quartz nanopores. There is no-slip boundary condition between water and quartz surface. The density dip and the extremely low apparent viscosity of the oil–water interface region were observed. The liquid–liquid slip effect happened at the oil–water interface. Based on the nano-effects obtained by the molecular simulation, two mathematical models were proposed to describe the nanoscale oil–water two-phase flow, considering both the solid–liquid and liquid–liquid interfacial phenomena, and the performances of two mathematical models were validated. This study shed light on the flow behaviors of oil and water on the nanoscale, and provides the theoretical basis for scale-upgrading, from the nanoscale to the macroscale.

Suggested Citation

  • Wei Zhang & Qihong Feng & Sen Wang & Xianmin Zhang & Jiyuan Zhang & Xiaopeng Cao, 2022. "Molecular Simulation Study and Analytical Model for Oil–Water Two-Phase Fluid Transport in Shale Inorganic Nanopores," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-20, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:7:p:2521-:d:782788
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/7/2521/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/7/2521/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cao Wang, 2021. "Monte Carlo Simulation," Springer Series in Reliability Engineering, in: Structural Reliability and Time-Dependent Reliability, chapter 0, pages 105-163, Springer.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Li, Jing & Xie, Yetong & Liu, Huimin & Zhang, Xuecai & Li, Chuanhua & Zhang, Lisong, 2023. "Combining macro and micro experiments to reveal the real-time evolution of permeability of shale," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(PB).
    2. Guilin Zhu & Linyou Zhang & Zhihui Deng & Qingda Feng & Zhaoxuan Niu & Wenhao Xu, 2023. "Three-Dimensional Geological Modeling and Resource Estimation of Hot Dry Rock in the Gonghe Basin, Qinghai Province," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-16, August.
    3. Gang Liu & Duo Chen & Bo Li & Changjun Li, 2023. "Primary Growth Behavior of Sulfur Particles through the Throttle Valve in the Transmission System of High Sulfur Content Natural Gas," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-31, March.
    4. Qin, Lei & Wang, Ping & Lin, Haifei & Li, Shugang & Zhou, Bin & Bai, Yang & Yan, Dongjie & Ma, Chao, 2023. "Quantitative characterization of the pore volume fractal dimensions for three kinds of liquid nitrogen frozen coal and its enlightenment to coalbed methane exploitation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PA).
    5. Guillem Piris & Ignasi Herms & Albert Griera & Montse Colomer & Georgina Arnó & Enrique Gomez-Rivas, 2021. "3DHIP-Calculator—A New Tool to Stochastically Assess Deep Geothermal Potential Using the Heat-In-Place Method from Voxel-Based 3D Geological Models," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-21, November.
    6. Maximilian Frick & Stefan Kranz & Ben Norden & David Bruhn & Sven Fuchs, 2022. "Geothermal Resources and ATES Potential of Mesozoic Reservoirs in the North German Basin," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-26, March.
    7. El-Dib, Yusry O. & Elgazery, Nasser S., 2022. "A novel pattern in a class of fractal models with the non-perturbative approach," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    8. Tan, Bo & Cheng, Gang & Fu, Shuhui & Wang, Haiyan & Li, Zixu & Zhang, Xuedong, 2022. "Molecular simulation for physisorption characteristics of O2 in low-rank coals," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:7:p:2521-:d:782788. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.