Pore Scale Modelling Consortium

Imperial College London

Modelling the Flow of non-Newtonian

Fluids in Porous Media
Taha Sochi

&

Martin Blunt

Definition
of
Newtonian & Non-Newtonian Fluids

Newtonian: stress is proportional to strain rate:

Non-Newtonian: this condition is not satisfied.

Three groups of behaviour:
1. Time-independent: strain rate solely depends on
instantaneous stress.
2. Time-dependent: strain rate is function of both
magnitude and duration of stress.
3. Viscoelastic: shows partial elastic recovery on
removal of deforming stress.

Rheology
Of
Non-Newtonian Fluids

Time-Independent

Time-Dependent

Viscoelastic

Thixotropic vs. Viscoelastic

Time-dependent behaviour of thixotropic
arises because of change in structure.

Time-dependency of viscoelastic arises

because response is not instantaneous.

Network Modelling
Of
Time-Independent Fluids

Network Modelling Strategy

Combine the pore space description of the
medium with the bulk rheology of the fluid.
The bulk rheology is used to derive analytical
expression for the flow in simplified pore
geometry.
Examples: Herschel-Bulkley & Ellis models.

Herschel-Bulkley
This is a general time-independent model

o C
Stress
Yield stress
C Consistency factor
Strain rate
n Flow behaviour index

Ellis
This is a shear-thinning model

1 / 2

Stress
Zero-shear viscosity
Strain rate
Stress at

Indicial parameter

Park

Network Modelling
Of
Time-Dependent Fluids

Network Modelling Strategy

There are three major cases:
1. Flow of strongly shear-dependent fluid in
medium which is not very homogeneous:
Very difficult to model because:
a. Difficult to track fluid elements in pores and
determine their shear history.
b. Mixing of fluid elements with various shear
history in individual pores.

Network Modelling Strategy

2. Flow of shear-independent or weakly sheardependent fluid in porous medium:
Apply single time-dependent viscosity function
to all pores at each instant of time and hence
simulate time development.

Network Modelling Strategy

3. Flow of strongly shear-dependent fluid in very
homogeneous porous medium:
a. Define effective pore shear rate.
b. Use very small time step to find viscosity in
the next instant assuming constant shear.
c. Find change in shear and hence make
correction to viscosity.
Possible problems: edge effects in case of
injection from reservoir & long CPU time.

Godfrey
This is suggested as a thixotropic model

(t ) i (1 e
'

(1 e
''

t / '

t / ''

)
)

Viscosity
t
Time of shearing
i Initial-time viscosity
Viscosity deficits associated
with time constants

Stretched Exponential Model

This is a general time-dependent model

(t ) i ( in i )(1 e
Viscosity
t Time of shearing
i Initial-time viscosity
in Infinite-time viscosity
s Time constant

t / s

Network Modelling
Of
Viscoelastic Fluids

Network Modelling Strategy

There are mainly two effects to model:
1. Time dependency:
Apply the same strategy as in the case of
time-dependent fluid.

Network Modelling Strategy

2. Thickening at high flow rate:
As the flow in porous media is mixed shearextension flow due mainly to convergencedivergence, with the contribution of each
component being unquantified and highly
dependent on pores actual shape, it is difficult
to predict the share of each especially when
the pore space description is approximate.
One possibility is to use average behaviour,
depending on porous medium, to find the
contribution of each as a function of flow rate.

Upper Convected Maxwell

This is the simplest and most popular
model

1 o
Stress tensor
Relaxation time

Low-shear viscosity
Rate-of-strain tensor

Oldroyd-B
This is the second in simplicity and
popularity

1 o 2

Stress tensor
Relaxation time

Retardation time
Low-shear viscosity
Rate-of-strain tensor

Future Work
Implementation of time-dependent
strategy
Possible implementation of viscoelastic
effects.

Thank You

Questions?