Simplified Pore Network Model for Analysis of Flow Capacity and Residual Oil Saturation Distribution Based on Computerized Tomography

Journal Article · Fri Sep 15 04:00:00 EDT 2017 · Chemistry and Technology of Fuels and Oils

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/S10553-017-0838-Y· OSTI ID:22810315

Xie, Yiting; Du, Zhimin; Chen, Zhaohui ^[1]; Wang, Xudong ^[2]

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1. Southwest Petroleum University, State Key Lab of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation (China)
2. Research Institute of China National Offshore Oil Corp. (China)

The pore network (connected tunnels) can be used not only to describe pore geometry inside a rock but also to calculate various fluid flow properties on a micro scale. Based on a “digital core” extracted from micro computerized tomography (μ-CT), we have developed a simplified pore network model. This study simplifies the pore structure as a lattice of cubes. Pore size, pore distribution, tunnel connectivity, fluid viscosity, interfacial tension, and the external driving pressure gradient are considered for each adjacent cube to evaluate the flow capacity of the pore network. We calculated the permeability, effective permeability, and effective sweep efficiency. The results show that fluid flow initially starts in the largest tunnel, which corresponds to the threshold pressure of the rock sample (fluid flow onset pressure). Permeability changes nonlinearly before all the tunnels are involved in the flow. Changes in the microscopic residual oil saturation and the sweep efficiency were visualized based on the three-dimensional pore distribution. Visualization shows that more oil remains in the formation, the heterogeneity is greater, and the oil viscosity is higher.

• OSTI ID: 22810315
• Journal Information: Chemistry and Technology of Fuels and Oils, Journal Name: Chemistry and Technology of Fuels and Oils Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 53; ISSN 0009-3092; ISSN CTFOAK
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
COMPUTERIZED TOMOGRAPHY
FLUID FLOW
OIL SATURATION
PERMEABILITY
PETROLEUM RESIDUES
PORE STRUCTURE
ROCKS
SURFACE TENSION
SWEEP EFFICIENCY
TUNNELS
VISCOSITY