Interpretation of miscible displacements in laboratory cores

Journal Article · Sun Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1987 · SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) Reserv. Eng.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2118/14898-PA· OSTI ID:5541898

Bretz, R E; Orr, Jr, F M

Results of stable, first-contact miscible displacements are presented for three San Andres carbonate cores from west Texas and eastern New Mexico. All three cores showed evidence of significant heterogeneity at the core scale. Effluent composition measurements were interpreted with two relatively simple models of mixing during flow in heterogeneous porous media: the Coats-Smith (CS) mode, which represents the pore space as flowing and stagnant fractions with mass transfer between them, and a porous sphere (PS) model, which describes flow between an assemblage of porous spheres with diffusive interchange of material in the spheres with fluid flowing past them. Parameters for the two models are reported and compared. Direct measurements of some parameters from thin-sections agreed well with least-error parameters for one sample for which comparisons were possible. PS model fits showed less error than CS model fits. The form of the PS model is then used to examine how mixing effects change with changes in flow velocity, displacement length, the length scale associated with heterogeneity, and the rate of exchange of material between flowing and stagnant zones. The authors conclude that for reservoirs with scales of heterogeneity larger than those present in core samples, laboratory core displacements do not provide evidence about mixing behavior at field scale.

• Research Organization: New Mexico Inst. of Mining and Technology
• OSTI ID: 5541898
• Journal Information: SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) Reserv. Eng.; (United States), Journal Name: SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) Reserv. Eng.; (United States) Vol. 2:4; ISSN SREEE
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020300* -- Petroleum-- Drilling & Production
CARBONATE ROCKS
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
DRILL CORES
ENERGY SOURCES
ENHANCED RECOVERY
FLOW MODELS
FLUID INJECTION
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
HETEROGENEOUS EFFECTS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MICROSTRUCTURE
MISCIBLE-PHASE DISPLACEMENT
OIL WELLS
PETROLEUM
POROSITY
RECOVERY
RESERVOIR ROCK
ROCKS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
STIMULATION
WELL STIMULATION
WELLS