Axisymmetric Drainage in Hydrophobic Porous Media Micromodels Drainage en géométrie axisymétrique dans des milieux poreux hydrophobes à deux dimensions

We present studies of axisymmetric drainage in two-dimensional micromodels of porous media using up to date microfabrication and image analysis methods. Drainage of model oil by aqueous solutions is studied at low capillary numbers (Ca) typically encountered during oil recovery operations. We use two types of oil-wet micromodels: one is based on a deposition method for creating a random monolayer of micronic glass beads, while the other is made using computer generated random networks etched in glass using wet-lithography. Both models have a central injection scheme and a radial geometry, resulting in a continuous variation of the capillary number during the course of drainage. We first carry out an analysis of experiments at global micromodel scale using computer based image analysis coupled with flow rates and pressure drop measurements. Basic relevant parameters such as permeability, porosity of the micromodel and residual oil in place after waterflooding are extracted. We then take advantage of the ease of observation in transparent micromodels to investigate the drainage phenomenon at local scale. Local saturation and front width are measured as a function of the local capillary number. Interestingly, because of the radial flow geometry, our experiments allow a continuous plotting of the micromodels capillary desaturation curve on several decades. As expected but never precisely observed, all points of various experiments collapse on a single capillary desaturation curve for a given micromodel. However, we observe dissimilar behaviors between the two types of micromodels. We discuss this phenomenon in light of the pore scale geometrical differences between the two models. Nous présentons une étude de phénomènes de drainage dans des micromodèles bidimensionnels de milieu poreux s’appuyant sur des méthodes modernes de microfabrication et d’analyse. Le drainage d’huile par des solutions aqueuses est étudié à de faibles nombres capillaires (Ca) communément rencontrés lors des opérations d’extraction pétrolière. Nous utilisons deux types de micromodèles mouillables à l’huile : le premier est basé sur une méthode de déposition innovante permettant d’obtenir des monocouches de billes de verre de taille micronique, tandis que le second est microfabriqué dans du verre à partir de réseaux poreux aléatoires générés informatiquement. Chacun des modèles utilise un schéma d’injection central dans une géométrie radiale, ce qui engendre une variation continue du nombre capillaire pendant le drainage. Nous menons tout d’abord une analyse du drainage à l’échelle glob