Investigation of Multiphase Flow in Porous Media Around Perforation Tunnel Near Wellbore Region, Experimental and Numerical Study

Abstract

Abstract Understanding the behavior of the multiphase flow in the porous media near the wellbore region is essential for increasing wells’ productivity and oil recovery. In this paper, an experimental and numerical study of multiphase flow in porous media near a perforation tunnel is presented. The effect of properties on the flow, such as porosity and permeability, are crucial for increasing oil and gas production. Two-phase flow through a cylindrical porous media with a perforation tunnel samples experimentally and numerically tested. Five sandstone samples were created at Memorial university labs, the sample dimensions are 30.48 cm high, 15.54 cm diameter, and a perforation tunnel has a 25.54 cm depth and 2.54cm diameter. The air and water injected into the sample radially at different flow rates, the water flow rate ranged from 1 to 3 LPM, and the air 3 to 9 LPM. The simulation carried out using ANSYS-Fluent 18.1 commercial software simulates the Volume Of Fluid method VOF coupled with the different turbulent models used to simulate the flow. The results showed that the porous media’s pressure buildup is greatly affected by the gas flow rate and its permeability. The wellbore pressure and porosity have more negligible effect on the pressure buildup profile in the porous media. The dominant factor for the breakthrough of a fluid in a core sample is the gas flow rate. Incorporating the gas flow in a porous system will reduce hydrostatic pressure loss, and less time is required to activate the breakthrough time.