Microfluidic Investigation of High-Pressure High-Temperature Pore-Scale Gas-Water-Oil Three-Phase Flow in Reservoir-Type Underground Gas Storage

Microfluidic Investigation of High-Pressure High-Temperature Pore-Scale Gas-Water-Oil Three-Phase Flow in Reservoir-Type Underground Gas Storage | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Microfluidic Investigation of High-Pressure High-Temperature Pore-Scale Gas-Water-Oil Three-Phase Flow in Reservoir-Type Underground Gas Storage Qian Zhang, Dewen Zheng, Jieming Wang, Lei Shi, Chun Li, Huayin Zhu This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8264905/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 11 Apr, 2026 Read the published version in Transport in Porous Media → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Understanding water-oil-gas three-phase flow is critical for improving gas storage efficiency and enhancing oil recovery in underground gas storage (UGS) converted from depleted oil reservoirs. In this study, a high-pressure, high-temperature microfluidic system is used to directly visualize pore-scale three-phase dynamics under reservoir-relevant conditions. A sequence of stages-initial trap formation, waterflooding, gas-injection pressurization, and gas-production depressurization-enables real-time observation of moving fluid interfaces, displacement fronts and phase redistribution within a heterogeneous pore network. The experiments show that initial mixed-wet conditions generate persistent capillary heterogeneity that governs subsequent displacement. Waterflooding induces capillarity-driven fingering, snap-off and extensive immobilized oil films and ganglia, which establish a pore-scale framework constraining later gas migration. During gas injection, dynamic gas-water interactions and Haines jumps form continuous high-permeability gas pathways, enhancing injectivity and supporting cushion-gas development. During production, water re-imbibition partially collapses these channels, causing irreversible gas trapping and progressive accumulation of residual gas. These pore-scale insights clarify the microscopic origins of macroscopic behavior-such as injectivity evolution, pressure hysteresis, displacement efficiencies and long-term storage stability-and provide a mechanistic basis for optimizing injection-withdrawal strategies and maximizing working-gas recovery in reservoir-type UGS systems. three-phase flow in porous media reservoir-type underground gas storage microfluidic visualization liquid-displacement efficiency oil-displacement efficiency Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 11 Apr, 2026 Read the published version in Transport in Porous Media → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8264905","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":556498837,"identity":"a291cc07-288f-47eb-ad36-95d4cb3b5fb3","order_by":0,"name":"Qian Zhang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"PetroChina Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration \u0026 Development (RIPED)","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Qian","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""},{"id":556498841,"identity":"58d8334c-f50a-436d-a527-cff344ebbda5","order_by":1,"name":"Dewen Zheng","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"PetroChina 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Gas-Water-Oil Three-Phase Flow in Reservoir-Type Underground Gas Storage","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"three-phase flow in porous media, 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In this study, a high-pressure, high-temperature microfluidic system is used to directly visualize pore-scale three-phase dynamics under reservoir-relevant conditions. A sequence of stages-initial trap formation, waterflooding, gas-injection pressurization, and gas-production depressurization-enables real-time observation of moving fluid interfaces, displacement fronts and phase redistribution within a heterogeneous pore network. The experiments show that initial mixed-wet conditions generate persistent capillary heterogeneity that governs subsequent displacement. Waterflooding induces capillarity-driven fingering, snap-off and extensive immobilized oil films and ganglia, which establish a pore-scale framework constraining later gas migration. During gas injection, dynamic gas-water interactions and Haines jumps form continuous high-permeability gas pathways, enhancing injectivity and supporting cushion-gas development. During production, water re-imbibition partially collapses these channels, causing irreversible gas trapping and progressive accumulation of residual gas. These pore-scale insights clarify the microscopic origins of macroscopic behavior-such as injectivity evolution, pressure hysteresis, displacement efficiencies and long-term storage stability-and provide a mechanistic basis for optimizing injection-withdrawal strategies and maximizing working-gas recovery in reservoir-type UGS systems.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Microfluidic Investigation of High-Pressure High-Temperature Pore-Scale Gas-Water-Oil Three-Phase Flow in Reservoir-Type Underground Gas Storage","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-12-08 09:50:54","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8264905/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"2e862941-c102-4277-a10d-059350faa634","owner":[],"postedDate":"December 8th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-04-13T16:00:02+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-8264905","link":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-026-02303-7","journal":{"identity":"transport-in-porous-media","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Transport in Porous Media"},"publishedOn":"2026-04-11 15:57:08","publishedOnDateReadable":"April 11th, 2026"},"versionCreatedAt":"2025-12-08 09:50:54","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1007/s11242-026-02303-7","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-026-02303-7","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8264905","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8264905","identity":"rs-8264905","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}