Steam-water relative permeability

Conference · Wed Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1997

OSTI ID:603427

Ambusso, W; Satik, C; Home, R N ^[1]

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1. Stanford Univ., CA (United States)

A set of relative permeability relations for simultaneous flow of steam and water in porous media have been measured in steady state experiments conducted under the conditions that eliminate most errors associated with saturation and pressure measurements. These relations show that the relative permeabilities for steam-water flow in porous media vary approximately linearly with saturation. This departure from the nitrogen/water behavior indicates that there are fundamental differences between steam/water and nitrogen/water flows. The saturations in these experiments were measured by using a high resolution X-ray computer tomography (CT) scanner. In addition the pressure gradients were obtained from the measurements of liquid phase pressure over the portions with flat saturation profiles. These two aspects constitute a major improvement in the experimental method compared to those used in the past. Comparison of the saturation profiles measured by the X-ray CT scanner during the experiments shows a good agreement with those predicted by numerical simulations. To obtain results that are applicable to general flow of steam and water in porous media similar experiments will be conducted at higher temperature and with porous rocks of different wetting characteristics and porosity distribution.

• Research Organization: USDOE Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: FG07-90ID12934; FG07-95ID13370
• OSTI ID: 603427
• Report Number(s): DOE/EE--0139; CONF-970376--; ON: DE98001891
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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