Experimental study of rheological behavior of foam flow in capillary tubes

Abstract

Studies of foam flow in highly permeable porous media are still limited due to foam’s complex behavior and discrepancies in foam research. Specifically, it is still unclear how foam flows in capillary tubes and what the effects of material and tube diameter are. We have investigated the rheology of pre-generated foam in capillary tubes. Experiments were carried out using two types of capillary tubes: hydrophobic (PTFE – polytetrafluoroethylene; FEP – fluorinated ethylene propylene) and hydrophilic (GT – glass tubes). The foam was previously formed in the sand-pack by co-injecting a surfactant solution and nitrogen gas. We investigated the effect of material and tube size on foam rheology versus gas fraction (for a fixed flow rate) and flow rate (for a fixed gas fraction). A three-parameter Herschel-Bulkley model was used to describe foam rheology in capillary tubes. Pictures of foam flow in GT and FEP tubes were taken to determine the mean bubble area using image analysis. We estimated wall-slip velocity in capillary tubes and compared the results with the bulk-foam rheology using an analytical expression of the Herschel-Bulkley model for volumetric flow through the circular tubes. We observed shear-thinning behavior in all capillary tubes (FEP, PTFE, GT), and the Herschel-Bulkley model successfully fitted its behavior. The foam in PTFE tubes behaved as a yield-stress fluid, while yield stress was not observed in GT and FEP tubes. We also found that transition foam quality depends on the material type and tube diameter. The results show that foam’s apparent viscosity is higher in hydrophobic tubes (FEP and PTFE tubes) than in hydrophilic glass tubes. This was explained by the wall-slip velocity being higher in glass tubes than in FEP and PTFE tubes because of the difference in surface roughness. The corrected flow rate without wall slip matches the flow rate calculated using the measured bulk foam viscosity better. Therefore we conclude that considering wallslip velocity is important when studying foam flow in porous media.