Experimental and theoretical investigation of the migration and plugging of the particle in porous media based on elastic properties

Abstract

Particle migration in porous media is of great significance in the areas of formation-water filtration and oil field development. The current theories and methods ignore the effect of particle elasticity on its flow resistance, which is the key point for particle parameters design toward reservoir profile control. Therefore, this paper focuses on the research on the migration process and flow resistance prediction of elastic particles in porous media. Based on the Hertzian contact theory, a migration and plugging model of the elastic particle in porous media is established. Then, core slice injection and microfluidic experiments were used to study the migration process of particles in porous media, which can provide an accurate coefficient for the migration and plugging model. And long core injection experiments were carried out using three kinds of elastic particles (3.7 μm, 8.4 μm, and 21.1 μm) to verify the accuracy of the model. The results show that elastic particles will form a filter cake within 3 cm of the injection end of the core. Combined with the microfluidic visualization experiment, the transport process of elastic particles in porous media can be summarized as the “Gathered and Energized” transport mode with three stages: particles accumulate at the injection end and increase the injection pressure, particles squeeze into the core, and particles deep migration. The migration and plugging model of elastic particles can predict its injection pressure in porous media, which is highly consistent with the experimental data, with an average error of 8.4%. When the reservoir permeability is constant, the injection pressure of elastic particles changes exponentially with the matching factor. In addition, the reservoir permeability also directly affects the injection pressure of elastic particles. When the permeability increases from 1.7 D to 6.0 D, the injection pressure decreases by >70%. This model provides a new method to study the migration of elastic particles in porous media and predict the flow resistance, which is of guiding significance to the bilateral matching design of elastic particles and reservoirs.