We study the generation and flow of foam through rough-walled, fractured marble rocks that mimic natural fracture systems in carbonate reservoirs. Flow was isolated to the fracture network because of the very low rock permeability of the marble samples and foam generated in situ during co-injection of surfactant solution and gas. The foam apparent viscosities were calculated at steady pressure gradients for a range of gas fractions, and similar to foam flow in porous media, we identified two flow regimes for foam flow in fractures: a high-quality flow regime only dependent on liquid velocity and a low-quality flow regime determined by the gas and liquid velocities. Variations in local fluid saturation during co-injection were visualized and quantified using positron emission tomography combined with computed tomography.

中文翻译：

---

天然裂缝网络中的泡沫流动和流动性控制

我们研究了泡沫在模拟碳酸盐岩储层中天然裂缝系统的粗糙壁、破裂的大理石岩石中的产生和流动。由于大理石样品的岩石渗透性非常低，并且在表面活性剂溶液和气体的共同注入过程中原位产生的泡沫，流动被隔离到裂缝网络。泡沫表观粘度是在一系列气体组分的稳定压力梯度下计算的，类似于多孔介质中的泡沫流，我们确定了裂缝中泡沫流的两种流态：仅依赖于液体速度的高质量流态和由气体和液体速度决定的低质量流态。使用正电子发射断层扫描结合计算机断层扫描对共注射期间局部流体饱和度的变化进行可视化和量化。