The Riemann problem for three-phase foam flow in porous media

Abstract Gas injection in the context of the three-phase flow in porous media appears in applications such as Enhanced Oil Recovery, aquifer remediation, and carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS). In general, this technique suffers from a difficulty related to excessive gas mobility, which can be circumvented by using foam. This study addresses the non-linear system of differential equations describing the three-phase foam flow based on Corey relative permeability functions. A major obstacle is an umbilic point, where the characteristic wave velocities for different families coincide, complicating the identification of stable wave structures. We developed a methodology to solve the Riemann problem describing the three-phase foam displacement in the case when the gas viscosity exceeds that of oil and water. To allow the analysis, we assume foam in local equilibrium (or maximum foam texture), resulting in a constant mobility reduction factor (MRF). These simplifications allowed the classification of possible solutions for the injection of foamed gas and water mixtures under a wide range of initial conditions within the framework of non-classical Conservation Law Theory. As a relevant industrial application of the proposed solution, we investigate the conditions resulting in oil bank formation. Besides improving the general physical understanding of foam flow in a porous medium, this analysis can be applied to calibrate numerical simulators and perform uncertainty quantification. Our analytical estimates were validated through numerical simulations.