Flow and Displacement of Bingham Non-Newtonian Fluids in Porous Media

Abstract

Summary This work presents a theoretical study of the flow and displacement of a Bingham fluid in porous media. An integral method of analyzing the single-phase flow of this type of fluid is developed. The accuracy of a newly developed approximate analytical solution for transient-flow problems is confirmed by comparison with numerical solutions. The flow behavior of a slightly compressible Bingham fluid is discussed, and a new well-test-analysis method is developed by use of the integral solution. To obtain some understanding of the physics of immiscible displacement with Bingham fluids, a Buckley-Leverett analytical solution with a practical graphic evaluation method was developed and applied to the problem of displacing a Bingham fluid with water. Results revealed that the saturation profile and displacement efficiency are controlled not only by the relative permeabilities, as in the case of Newtonian fluids, but also by the inherent complexities of Bingham non-Newtonian behavior. In particular, we found that in the displacement process with a Bingham fluid, a limiting maximum saturation exists beyond which no further displacement can be achieved.