Porous media displacements with unfavorable viscosity ratio

Thesis/Dissertation · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1971

OSTI ID:5596110

Varnon, J E

If a mobile fluid pushes a less mobile fluid, the displacement is not piston-like. Instead the displacement front is characterized by growing proturberances. The displacement is termed viscous fingering. Viscous fingering may occur in any fluid motion that involves severe viscosity variations, such as single-phase pipeline transport with severe temperature gradients. Interest now is focused on petroleum reservoir production because these displacements almost always have unfavorable viscosity ratios. Present understanding of viscous fingering has come more from sharp-front model studies than from actual porous media studies. These have been limited to the linear regions of finger growth, the infant distortion of negligible amplitude, and the long parallel-sided finger. In this work the sharp front model is applied to the nonlinear region of finger growth which in some problems constitutes the entire displacement. It was found that the growth rate in the nonlinear region is equal to the parallel-sided finger growth rate. Approximate displacement prediction techniques based on parallel-sided fingers may be applied in the nonlinear region.

• OSTI ID: 5596110
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020300* -- Petroleum-- Drilling & Production
AUGMENTATION
DIFFUSION
ENERGY SOURCES
ENGINEERING
ENHANCED RECOVERY
EQUATIONS
FLUID FLOW
FLUID INJECTION
FLUIDS
FORECASTING
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
MATERIALS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MINERAL RESOURCES
MISCIBLE-PHASE DISPLACEMENT
OIL SATURATION
OIL WELLS
PETROLEUM
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
PIPELINES
POROUS MATERIALS
PRODUCTION
PULSES
RECOVERY
RESERVOIR ENGINEERING
RESERVOIR FLUIDS
RESOURCES
SATURATION
SOLUBILITY
STIMULATION
TEMPERATURE GRADIENTS
TRANSPORT
VISCOSITY
WATERFLOODING
WELL STIMULATION
WELLS