Method for modelling fluid displacements in a porous environment taking into account hysteresis effects
US7072809B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignees
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 10, 2001 |
| Grant date | Jul 4, 2006 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 27, 2023 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01N33/24
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A modelling method having application to petroleum production, soil cleaning, etc. for optimizing faster and more realistically the displacement conditions, in a porous medium wettable by a first fluid (water for example), of a mixture of fluids including this wetting fluid, another, non-wetting fluid (oil for example) and a gas. The method comprises experimental determination of the variation curve of the capillary pressure in the pores as a function of the saturation in the liquid phases, modelling the pores of the porous medium by means of a distribution of capillaries with a fractal distribution by considering, in the case of a three-phase water (wetting fluid)-oil-gas mixture for example, a stratification of the constituents in the pores, with the water in contact with the walls, the gas in the center and the oil forming an intercalary layer, determination, from this capillary pressure curve, of the fractal dimension values corresponding to a series of given values of the saturation in the liquid phase, modelling the hysteresis effects that modify the mobile saturations of the fluids effectively displaced in the sample, that vary during drainage and imbibition cycles.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.