Visualization of Connate Water Replacement during Flooding Experiments Using Glass-Silicon-Glass Micromodels

Abstract

In this work Glass-Silicon-Glass (GSG) micromodels are used for flooding experiments. These are 40 mm by 40 mm wafers with a porous structure edged into the material. By using two different UV tracers attached to the connate water and the oleic phase, it is possible to visualize the displacement of the connate water during the flooding. A Matlab® image analysis algorithm is used to convert the original photograph via grey thresholds to an image from which the different saturations can be calculated. The unique design of the models with their transparent glass covers enables to investigate the entire model several times per minute and with the algorithm the transformation will finally happen in real time on the fly. By this method it is possible to observe the movement of the front of the displacing fluid without tracer attached to it. Three different regimes form inside the model. Firstly, there is the initially saturated region with the traced connate water still in place. Secondly, the mixing zone between connate and displacing fluid. Thirdly, a zone without any tracer in the water phase. All zones are separated by the image analysis and replaced with individual colors for a better representation.