Abstract
In this paper, physical experiments and numerical simulations were applied to systematically investigate the non-Newtonian flow characteristics of heavy oil in porous media. Rheological experiments were carried out to determine the rheology of heavy oil. Threshold pressure gradient (TPG) measurement experiments performed by a new micro-flow method and flow experiments were conducted to study the effect of viscosity, permeability and mobility on the flow characteristics of heavy oil. An in-house developed novel simulator considering the non-Newtonian flow was designed based on the experimental investigations. The results from the physical experiments indicated that heavy oil was a Bingham fluid with non-Newtonian flow characteristics, and its viscosity-temperature relationship conformed to the Arrhenius equation. Its viscosity decreased with an increase in temperature and a decrease in asphaltene content. The TPG measurement experiments was impacted by the flow rate, and its critical flow rate was 0.003 mL/min. The TPG decreased as the viscosity decreased or the permeability increased and had a power-law relationship with mobility. In addition, the critical viscosity had a range of 42–54 mPa∙s, above which the TPG existed for a given permeability. The validation of the designed simulator was positive and acceptable when compared to the simulation results run in ECLIPSE V2013.1 and Computer Modelling Group (CMG) V2012 software as well as when compared to the results obtained during physical experiments. The difference between 0.0005 and 0.0750 MPa/m in the TPG showed a decrease of 11.55% in the oil recovery based on the simulation results, which demonstrated the largely adverse impact the TPG had on heavy oil production.
Highlights
World crude oil demands have grown at an average rate of 1.30% per year during 2006–2016 [1].According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) statistics, the reserves of heavy oil that are of the same order of magnitude as the ones of conventional oils are abundant worldwide
Considering the obvious Bingham behavior of heavy oil in Bohai Bay oilfield that can be seen in the third section of this paper, we directly corrected Darcy’s law and proposed the flow model based on its flow experiments, which could better describe the non-Newtonian flow characteristics with the Threshold pressure gradient (TPG) compared with the simple use of recalculated relative permeability
theconsidered corresponding was drawn. (The) yield stress of the heavy oil decreased with an increase in was the same for the Bingham fluid
Summary
World crude oil demands have grown at an average rate of 1.30% per year during 2006–2016 [1]. The steady-state method applied in the multiphase flow of heavy oil was widely used to obtain the relative permeability for each phase, where the saturations, flow rates, and pressure gradients are measured and used in. It is necessary to design a simulator that can accurately describe the non-Newtonian flow characteristics of heavy oil with the TPG, where IMPES is applied to obtain solutions with an acceptable numerical dispersion and a high running speed. Considering the obvious Bingham behavior of heavy oil in Bohai Bay oilfield that can be seen in the third section of this paper, we directly corrected Darcy’s law and proposed the flow model based on its flow experiments, which could better describe the non-Newtonian flow characteristics with the TPG compared with the simple use of recalculated relative permeability. These results and numerical simulations offer a tool to study the flow of heavy oil in porous media
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