Mechanistic Studies of Gravity-Assisted Water Flooding in a Thick Heavy Oil Reservoir through Horizontal Injectors Using Three-Dimensional Physical Model
Laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate the mechanism(s) of water flood with horizontal injection wells. The experiment was performed using a three-dimensional (3D) physical model made by artificial sandstone of the dimension of 60 cm × 30 cm × 5 cm. The saturation profile of oil and wa...
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Series: | Mathematical Problems in Engineering |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/7205260 |
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doaj-62e65d6ddd1f450c93901f36c2e4d0142020-11-24T22:17:58ZengHindawi LimitedMathematical Problems in Engineering1024-123X1563-51472016-01-01201610.1155/2016/72052607205260Mechanistic Studies of Gravity-Assisted Water Flooding in a Thick Heavy Oil Reservoir through Horizontal Injectors Using Three-Dimensional Physical ModelDebin Kong0Chao Wang1Fei Zhou2Yiqiang Li3Ruicheng Ma4Qinghui Zhao5Enhanced Oil Recovery Institute, China University of Petroleum, No. 18 Fuxue Road, Beijing 102249, ChinaPetroChina Tarim Oilfield Company, Korla 841000, ChinaPetroChina Tarim Oilfield Company, Korla 841000, ChinaEnhanced Oil Recovery Institute, China University of Petroleum, No. 18 Fuxue Road, Beijing 102249, ChinaEnhanced Oil Recovery Institute, China University of Petroleum, No. 18 Fuxue Road, Beijing 102249, ChinaExploration & Development Research Institute, Liaohe Oilfield Ltd. Co., Panjin, Liaoning 124010, ChinaLaboratory experiments were conducted to investigate the mechanism(s) of water flood with horizontal injection wells. The experiment was performed using a three-dimensional (3D) physical model made by artificial sandstone of the dimension of 60 cm × 30 cm × 5 cm. The saturation profile of oil and water phases was monitored by measuring the electrical resistivity using microelectrodes. It is difficult to model a field-scale gravity-assisted water flood process in the laboratory as the gravity force is very small in the physical model. In this paper, similarity criteria, dimensional analysis, and π principle were used to design the model parameters. We found that the ratios of gravity force to production pressure differential, capillary force, and viscous force are the three most important similarity criteria. Based on dimensional analysis, both capillary and viscous forces were designed in the physical model to represent the capillary and bond number in the reservoir conditions. Hence, in physical model, rock permeability of 6 darcies was selected to reduce the capillary force and the fluid viscosity of 583 cp was selected to reduce the viscous force based on calculation. The use of horizontal injection well can improve the sweep efficiency by 17.2%, compared with the case of vertical injection well. To determine the optimal driving force, the ratio of gravity force and production pressure differential was varied from 1 : 1 to 1 : 16. The experiment has shown that the ratio of 1 : 8 yields the highest heavy oil recovery (44.04%).http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/7205260 |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Debin Kong Chao Wang Fei Zhou Yiqiang Li Ruicheng Ma Qinghui Zhao |
spellingShingle |
Debin Kong Chao Wang Fei Zhou Yiqiang Li Ruicheng Ma Qinghui Zhao Mechanistic Studies of Gravity-Assisted Water Flooding in a Thick Heavy Oil Reservoir through Horizontal Injectors Using Three-Dimensional Physical Model Mathematical Problems in Engineering |
author_facet |
Debin Kong Chao Wang Fei Zhou Yiqiang Li Ruicheng Ma Qinghui Zhao |
author_sort |
Debin Kong |
title |
Mechanistic Studies of Gravity-Assisted Water Flooding in a Thick Heavy Oil Reservoir through Horizontal Injectors Using Three-Dimensional Physical Model |
title_short |
Mechanistic Studies of Gravity-Assisted Water Flooding in a Thick Heavy Oil Reservoir through Horizontal Injectors Using Three-Dimensional Physical Model |
title_full |
Mechanistic Studies of Gravity-Assisted Water Flooding in a Thick Heavy Oil Reservoir through Horizontal Injectors Using Three-Dimensional Physical Model |
title_fullStr |
Mechanistic Studies of Gravity-Assisted Water Flooding in a Thick Heavy Oil Reservoir through Horizontal Injectors Using Three-Dimensional Physical Model |
title_full_unstemmed |
Mechanistic Studies of Gravity-Assisted Water Flooding in a Thick Heavy Oil Reservoir through Horizontal Injectors Using Three-Dimensional Physical Model |
title_sort |
mechanistic studies of gravity-assisted water flooding in a thick heavy oil reservoir through horizontal injectors using three-dimensional physical model |
publisher |
Hindawi Limited |
series |
Mathematical Problems in Engineering |
issn |
1024-123X 1563-5147 |
publishDate |
2016-01-01 |
description |
Laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate the mechanism(s) of water flood with horizontal injection wells. The experiment was performed using a three-dimensional (3D) physical model made by artificial sandstone of the dimension of 60 cm × 30 cm × 5 cm. The saturation profile of oil and water phases was monitored by measuring the electrical resistivity using microelectrodes. It is difficult to model a field-scale gravity-assisted water flood process in the laboratory as the gravity force is very small in the physical model. In this paper, similarity criteria, dimensional analysis, and π principle were used to design the model parameters. We found that the ratios of gravity force to production pressure differential, capillary force, and viscous force are the three most important similarity criteria. Based on dimensional analysis, both capillary and viscous forces were designed in the physical model to represent the capillary and bond number in the reservoir conditions. Hence, in physical model, rock permeability of 6 darcies was selected to reduce the capillary force and the fluid viscosity of 583 cp was selected to reduce the viscous force based on calculation. The use of horizontal injection well can improve the sweep efficiency by 17.2%, compared with the case of vertical injection well. To determine the optimal driving force, the ratio of gravity force and production pressure differential was varied from 1 : 1 to 1 : 16. The experiment has shown that the ratio of 1 : 8 yields the highest heavy oil recovery (44.04%). |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/7205260 |
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