Mechanistic Studies of Gravity-Assisted Water Flooding in a Thick Heavy Oil Reservoir through Horizontal Injectors Using Three-Dimensional Physical Model
Joint Authors
Yiqiang, Li
Kong, Debin
Wang, Chao
Zhou, Fei
Ma, Ruicheng
Zhao, Qinghui
Source
Mathematical Problems in Engineering
Issue
Vol. 2016, Issue 2016 (31 Dec. 2016), pp.1-8, 8 p.
Publisher
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Publication Date
2016-11-17
Country of Publication
Egypt
No. of Pages
8
Main Subjects
Abstract EN
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%).
American Psychological Association (APA)
Kong, Debin& Wang, Chao& Zhou, Fei& Yiqiang, Li& Ma, Ruicheng& Zhao, Qinghui. 2016. 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،Vol. 2016, no. 2016, pp.1-8.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1112539
Modern Language Association (MLA)
Kong, Debin…[et al.]. 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 No. 2016 (2016), pp.1-8.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1112539
American Medical Association (AMA)
Kong, Debin& Wang, Chao& Zhou, Fei& Yiqiang, Li& Ma, Ruicheng& Zhao, Qinghui. 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. 2016. Vol. 2016, no. 2016, pp.1-8.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1112539
Data Type
Journal Articles
Language
English
Notes
Includes bibliographical references
Record ID
BIM-1112539