Diffusion Equations for Fluid Flow in Porous Rocks

Abstract

The multiphase flow in porous media is a subject of great complexities with a long rich history in the field of fluid mechanics. This is a subject with important technical applications, most notably in oil recovery from petroleum reservoirs and so on. The single-phase fluid flow through a porous medium is well characterized by Darcy’s law. In the petroleum industry and in other technical applications, transport is modeled by postulating a multiphase generalization of the Darcy’s law. In this connection, distinct pressures are defined for each constituent phase with the difference known as capillary pressure, determined by the interfacial tension, micro pore geometry and surface chemistry of the solid medium. For flow rates, relative permeability is defined that relates the volume flow rate of each fluid to its pressure gradient. In the present paper, there is a derivation and analysis about the diffusion equation for the fluid flow in porous rocks and some important results have been founded. The permeability is a function of rock type that varies with stress, temperature etc., and does not depend on the fluid. The effect of the fluid on the flow rate is accounted for by the term of viscosity. The numerical value of permeability for a given rock depends on the size of the pores in the rock as well as on the degree of interconnectivity of the void space. The pressure pulses obey the diffusion equation not the wave equation. Then they travel at a speed which continually decreases with time rather than travelling at a constant speed. The results shown in this paper are much useful in earth sciences and petroleum industry.