Abstract
Understanding different fluids flow behavior confined in microscales has tremendous significance in the development of tight oil reservoirs. In this article, a novel semiempirical model for different confined fluid flow based on the concept of boundary layer thickness, caused by the fluid–solid interaction, is proposed. Micro-tube experiments are carried out to verify the novel model. After the validation, the viscosity effect on the flow rate and Poiseuille number considering the fluid–solid interaction is investigated. Furthermore, the novel model is incorporated into unstructured networks with anisotropy to study the viscosity effect on pore-scale flow in tight formations under the conditions of different displacement pressure gradients, different aspect ratios (ratio of the pore radius to the connecting throat radius), and different coordination numbers. Results show that the viscosity effect on the flow rate and Poiseuille number after considering the fluid–solid interaction induces a great deviation from that in conventional fluid flow. The absolute permeability is not only a parameter related to pore structures but also depends on fluid viscosity. The study provides an effective model for modeling different confined fluid flow in microscales and lays a good foundation for studying fluid flow in tight formations.
Highlights
Tight oil reservoirs have played a dominant role in the development of the petroleum industry (Cui et al, 2020; Cui et al, 2021aCui et al, 2021b; Zhao et al, 2021)
This study provides an effective model for modeling different micro-confined fluid flow and lays a good foundation for investigating fluid flow in tight formations
We reduce the throat radius distribution by a factor of 10 to make the pore throat radius in the range of tight formations
Summary
Tight oil reservoirs have played a dominant role in the development of the petroleum industry (Cui et al, 2020; Cui et al, 2021aCui et al, 2021b; Zhao et al, 2021). Many empirical correlations have been developed to represent boundary layer thickness (Li and He, 2005; Xu et al, 2007; Li et al, 2011; Liu et al, 2011; Cao et al, 2016; Wu et al, 2017a), most of them just take the displacement pressure gradient and original throat radius into account, while the factor of fluid viscosity is ignored, causing extreme limitation of their application when studying different fluid flow. The novel model representing the boundary layer thickness is incorporated into unstructured networks with anisotropy to study the viscosity effect on pore-scale flow in tight formations, respectively, under the conditions of different displacement pressure gradients, different aspect ratios, and different coordination numbers. This study provides an effective model for modeling different micro-confined fluid flow and lays a good foundation for investigating fluid flow in tight formations
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