Pore-scale Network Modeling of Three-Phase Flow Based on Thermodynamically Consistent Threshold Capillary Pressures. II. Results

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• 作者：Arsalan Zolfaghari ; Mohammad Piri
• 关键词：Three ; phase flow in porous media ; Pore ; scale network modeling ; Cusp formation ; Threshold capillary pressure ; Wettability
• 刊名：Transport in Porous Media
• 出版年：2017
• 出版时间：February 2017
• 年：2017
• 卷：116
• 期：3
• 页码：1139-1165
• 全文大小：
• 刊物类别：Earth and Environmental Science
• 刊物主题：Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Hydrology/Water Resources; Civil Engineering; Hydrogeology; Classical and Continuum Physics;
• 出版者：Springer Netherlands
• ISSN：1573-1634
• 卷排序：116

文摘

We use the model described in Zolfaghari and Piri (Transp Porous Media, 2016) to predict two- and three-phase relative permeabilities and residual saturations for different saturation histories. The results are rigorously validated against their experimentally measured counterparts available in the literature. We show the relevance of thermodynamically consistent threshold capillary pressures and presence of oil cusps for significantly improving the predictive capabilities of the model at low oil saturations. We study systems with wetting and spreading oil layers and cusps. Three independent experimental data sets representing different rock samples and fluid systems are investigated in this work. Different disordered networks are used to represent the pore spaces in which different sets of experiments were performed, i.e., Berea, Bentheimer, and reservoir sandstones. All three-phase equilibrium interfacial tensions used for the simulation of three-phase experimental data are measured and used in the model’s validation. We use a fixed set of parameters, i.e., the input network (to represent the pore space) and contact angles (to represent the wettability state), for all experiments belonging to a data set. Incorporation of the MSP method for capillary pressure calculations and cusp analysis significantly improves the agreement between the model’s predictions of relative permeabilities and residual oil saturations with experimental data.