Factors affecting residual wetting phase saturation

Thesis/Dissertation · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1986

OSTI ID:7175760

AlFossail, K A

An experimental study was undertaken to clarify the relation between the residual wetting phase and the ratio of viscous to capillary forces. The effect of viscous forces and capillary forces on residual water saturation were investigated. The viscous forces were varied by either changing the flow rate of increasing the viscosity of the displacing phase. The capillary forces were reduced by lowering the interfacial tension. The experimental results show that the residual water saturation is independent of flow rate when low viscosity oil displaced water in either high or low tension systems. However, it was found to be a function of flow rate when viscous oil displaced water. The results also show the residual water saturation was affected by the oil viscosity in both high and low tension systems. The effect of viscosity and the flow rate on the residual water saturation suggests that the residual water saturation was affected by the pressure drop across the core. The higher the pressure drop, the lower the residual water saturation. The correlation between the capillary number and the residual water saturation indicates that high capillary numbers are required to mobilize the trapped water in low tension systems. Therefore, a new dimensionless number has been developed to include the effects of oil viscosity, flow rate and the interfacial tension. Finally, the experimental results show that the drainage relative permeabilities are affected by the viscosity of the displacing phase (the pressure drop across the core). Higher pressure drop resulted in lower oil relative permeability and higher water relative permeability at a given water saturation.

• Research Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles (USA)
• OSTI ID: 7175760
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020300* -- Petroleum-- Drilling & Production
CAPILLARY FLOW
CORRELATIONS
DRAINAGE
ENERGY SOURCES
FLOW RATE
FLUID FLOW
FLUID INJECTION
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
INTERFACES
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
OIL WELLS
PERMEABILITY
PETROLEUM
PRESSURE DROP
SATURATION
STIMULATION
SURFACE PROPERTIES
SURFACE TENSION
VISCOSITY
VISCOUS FLOW
WATER SATURATION
WATERFLOODING
WELL STIMULATION
WELLS
WETTABILITY