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EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF RELATIVE PERMEABILITY UPSCALING FROM THE MICRO-SCALE TO THE MACRO-SCALE

Description/Abstract

The principal challenge of upscaling techniques for multi-phase fluid dynamics in porous media is to determine which properties on the micro-scale can be used to predict macroscopic flow and spatial distribution of phases at core- and field-scales. The most notable outcome of recent theories is the identification of interfacial areas per volume for multiple phases as a fundamental parameter that determines much of the multi-phase properties of the porous medium. A formal program of experimental research was begun to directly test upscaling theories in fluid flow through porous media by comparing measurements of relative permeability and capillary-saturation with measurements of interfacial area per volume. This project on the experimental investigation of relative permeability upscaling has produced a unique combination of three quite different technical approaches to the upscaling problem of obtaining pore-related microscopic properties and using them to predict macroscopic behavior. Several important ''firsts'' have been achieved during the course of the project. (1) Optical coherence imaging, a laser-based ranging and imaging technique, has produced the first images of grain and pore structure up to 1 mm beneath the surface of the sandstone and in a laboratory borehole. (2) Woods metal injection has connected for the first time microscopic pore-scale geometric measurements with macroscopic saturation in real sandstone cores. (3) The micro-model technique has produced the first invertible relationship between saturation and capillary pressure--showing that interfacial area per volume (IAV) provides the linking parameter. IAV is a key element in upscaling theories, so this experimental finding may represent the most important result of this project, with wide ramifications for predictions of fluid behavior in porous media.

DOI 10.2172/833410
Creator/Author: Laura J. Pyrak-Nolte ; Nicholas J. Giordano ; David D. Nolte
Publication Date:2004 Mar 01
OSTI Identifier:OSTI ID: 833410
DOE Contract Number:AC26-99BC15207
DOI:10.2172/833410
Other Number(s):TRN: US200430%%1380
Resource Type:Technical Report
Resource Relation:Other Information: PBD: 1 Mar 2004
Coverage:Final
Research Org:Purdue Research Foundation (US)
Sponsoring Org:(US)
Subject:02 PETROLEUM; FLUID FLOW; PERMEABILITY; PORE STRUCTURE; SANDSTONES; SATURATION; SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION; MULTIPHASE FLOW; POROUS MATERIALS; FLUID MECHANICS
Country of Publication:United States
Language:English
Format: Size: 95 pages
Availability: OSTI as DE00833410
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Update Date:2008 Feb 05

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