Pressure transient analysis of power law fluids in horizontal wells
Polymer floods behave as non-Newtonian power law fluids in the reservoir which increase sweep efficiency. This is accomplished by an increase in the viscosity of the displacing phase by the polymer which creates a lower favorable mobility ratio. When designing a polymer flood, the ability to estimate the in-situ mobility can improve the determination of the size and profile of the polymer slug to be employed for optimal sweep. Several papers have already shown a pressure transient method for the determination of in-situ mobility of power law fluids from vertical injection wells. For horizontal injection wells, however, there is currently no analytical pressure transient method to determine the in-situ mobility of a polymer flood. Beginning with the modified Darcy`s law for power law fluids and the conservation of mass equation in cylindrical coordinates, a horizontal power law diffusivity equation written in terms of potential is developed for slightly compressible single phase polymer flow. The equation is converted to dimensionless form, linearized, and solved using Laplace transforms. The dimensionless potential and potential derivative solutions reveal the existence of radial and pseudo-radial regimes in horizontal wells between parallel boundaries for both center and off-center wells. The nature of the potential equations and solutions allow for a simple analytical potential transient method to be developed for the radial and pseudo-radial flow regimes to determine the in-situ power law index and fluid mobility of the polymer. The availability of an in-situ mobility will allow the behavior of polymer floods in horizontal wells to be monitored and modified to ensure maximum sweep efficiency.
- OSTI ID:
- 468279
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-961003-; TRN: 96:006577-0084
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 71. annual technical conference and exhibition of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, Denver, CO (United States), 6-9 Oct 1996; Other Information: PBD: 1996; Related Information: Is Part Of 1996 SPE annual technical conference and exhibition: Production operations and engineering/general; PB: 892 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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