Immiscible Displacement of a Wetting Fluid by a Non-wetting One at High Capillary Number in a Micro-model Containing a Single Fracture

Abstract

Most reservoirs in Iran are heterogeneous fractured carbonate reservoirs. Heterogeneity causes an earlier breakthrough and an unstable front which leads to a lower recovery. A series of experiments were conducted whereby the distilled water displaced n-Decane in strongly oil-wet glass micro-models containing a single fracture. Experimental data from image analysis of immiscible displacement processes are used to modify the Buckley–Leverett and fractional flow equations by a heterogeneity factor. It is shown that the heterogeneity factor in the modified equations can be expressed as a function of fracture length and orientation.