Experimental Study of Phase-Transformation Effects on Relative Permeabilities in Fractures

Abstract

Summary Phase transformation affects multiphase flow in geothermal and gas/condensate reservoirs owing to the same substance occurring in different phases. These effects change the phase behavior and the flow characteristics. The goals of this research were to compare the flow behavior and relative permeability differences between two-phase flow with and without phase-transformation effects in smooth-walled and rough-walled fractures. During this research, an experimental apparatus was built to capture the unstable nature of the two-phase flow in fractures and to display the flow structures in real time. Two-phase-flow experiments with phase-transformation effects (steam/water flow) and without phase-transformation effects (nitrogen/water flow) were conducted. The porous-medium approach was used to calculate two-phase relative permeabilities. From the results in this study, steam/water relative permeabilities are different from nitrogen/water relative permeabilities. The enhanced steam-phase relative permeability is caused by the effects of phase transformation. This shows consistency with some earlier studies in porous media. The nitrogen/water relative permeability is described most appropriately by using the viscous coupling model. However, steam/water flow in the rough-walled fracture, which is coupled with strong phase-transformation effects, seems to be represented better by Brooks-Corey relative permeability functions for fractured media (λ→∞). The results from this study suggest that relative permeabilities accounting for phase-transformation effects must be used in simulations of geothermal and solution-gas reservoirs to represent two-phase interactions adequately.