Abstract
The relative permeability of oil-water two-phase flow is an important parameter in fractured petroleum reservoirs. It is widely accepted that the sum of relative permeabilities is less than 1. In this study, a series of experiments have been conducted on six rectangular fractures for oil-water two-phase flows. Analytical investigations of the effects of flow rate, aspect ratio, and fracture size on the relative permeability of oil-water two-phase are analysed. Basic fluid flow equations are combined to develop a new analytical model for water-oil two-phase flow in a horizontal fracture. The simulation results predicted by this model are in good agreement with the experimental data. The relative permeability is a function of flow ratio, viscosity ratio, aspect ratio and saturation. It increases as aspect ratio increases if the fracture depths are the same, while it decreases as aspect ratio increases if the fracture widths are identical. Both experiment and model indicate that the sum of relative permeabilities of oil and water is greater than 1 in some cases, different from the accepted view.
Highlights
Porous media are widely used in such fields as resource development engineering, farmland water conservancy engineering, chemical infiltration, biological tissue, etc [1,2,3]
The equation (14), (15) show that the relative permeability is a function of flow ratio, viscosity ratio, wet perimeter and saturation
The relative permeability of oil-water two-phase increases as aspect ratio increases if the fracture depths are the same, while it decreases as aspect ratio decreases if the fracture widths are identical
Summary
Porous media are widely used in such fields as resource development engineering, farmland water conservancy engineering, chemical infiltration, biological tissue, etc [1,2,3]. In order to make porous media better used in various fields, we need to determine the bundle model of other shapes. In order to better exploit the reservoir, we need to know the horizontal flow of oil-water two-phase in single fracture. The relative permeability is an important parameter to describe the oil-water two-phase flow in fractured reservoirs [6,7]. Shad et al presented the effect of oil viscosity and flow orientation on smooth parallel plates using the steady-state approach introduced by Fourar et al [14] They observed lubrication effect yielding the relative permeability values higher than 1 if the fracture was oil-wet [15,16]. We firstly establish the model of the relative permeability of the oil-water two-phase in a single fracture. Theoretical data are compared with experimental data to understand the oilwater two-phase flow in single fractures more deeply
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