Alternating advancing behavior of two-phase wet foam fluid in heterogeneous porous media

Abstract

Wet foam flow within porous media is common in practical applications. However, due to diversities of porous media, there are contradictory results about the flow behaviors of foam, and the mechanical information of foam flowing through the pores is missing. Herein, we conduct a quasi-static simulation to study slow migratory of foam in the heterogeneous porous media. It is found that the bubbles in the wet foam alternately pass through different pores, due to temporary blockage of bubbles on the other pores. Further, we consider the effects of pores and neighboring bubbles on the pressure and the film stress of a bubble moving through the pores. As the bubble is moving through the pore of larger size than the bubble size, the pressure of the bubble and its principal stress decrease. For the situation of bubble moving through the pore of smaller size, the bubble pressure and the maximal principal stress increase in the entering phase and decrease as the bubble moves out of the smaller pore. This study reveals the detailed advancing behaviors and the mechanical information of bubbles in wet foam moving through the pores of porous media.