MODELING OF CAPILLARY PRESSURE HYSTERESIS AND OF HYSTERESIS OF RELATIVE PHASE PERMEABILITIES IN POROUS MATERIALS ON THE BASIS OF THE PORE ENSEMBLE CONCEPT
O. Yu. Dinariev and D. N. Mikhailov UDC 532.546 We propose a class of models of porous media based on the pore ensemble concept with a certain distribution of the main geometric parameters (e.g., pore size). The case of the saturation of the pore space with a two-phase liquid mixture has been considered. The transfer laws are deduced from the free energy dissipation condition. The hydrodynamic connection of pores is described by two kinds of kernels: one kernel describes the connection of pores in the space, and the other kernel describes the connection of pores in an elementary macrovolume. A simple model of capillary pressure hysteresis associated with the monotonicity of the function of the area-to-volume ratio of the pore is proposed. The results of numerical calculations of the capillary pressure hysteresis and relative phase permeabilities are presented. O. Yu. Schmidt Joint Institute of Physics of the Earth, Russian Academy of Sciences, 10 B. Gruzinskaya Str., Moscow, 123810, Russia; email: dinariev@mail.ru. Translated from Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 81, No. 6, pp. 1086-1093, November-December, 2008. Original article submitted June 15, 2007.