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Advances in Geo-Energy Research 2018, 2(1): 63-71 https://doi.org/10.26804/ager.2018.01.06
Original Article | Open Access | Issue | Published: 13 February 2018

The effect of flow resistance on water saturation profile for transient two-phase flow in fractal porous media

Show Author's Information Ting Lu1,2,  Zhiping Li1,2( ),  Fengpeng Lai1,2,  Ya Meng1,2,  Wenli Ma1,2
School of Energy Resources, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, P.R.China
Beijing Key Laboratory of Unconventional Natural Gas Geological Evaluation and Development Engineering, Beijing 100083, P.R.China
Keywords:
rough surfaces, porous media, Fractal, transient two-phase flow, flow resistance
Cite this article:
Lu T, Li Z, Lai F, et al. The effect of flow resistance on water saturation profile for transient two-phase flow in fractal porous media. Advances in Geo-Energy Research, 2018, 2(1): 63-71. https://doi.org/10.26804/ager.2018.01.06
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Abstract Full text About this article

Due to the rapid development of Micro-Electro-Mechanical System, more and more attention has been paid to the fluid properties of porous media, which is significant for petroleum engineering.However, most of surfaces of pores and capillaries in porous media are rough.On the approximation that porous medium consists of a bundle of tortuous and rough capillaries, a Buckley-Leverett conceptual model with considering flow resistance is developed based on the fractal geometry theory, which is beneficial to predict water saturation profile in porous medium.The proposed Buckley-Leverett solution is a function of fractal structural parameters (such as pore fractal dimension, tortuosity fractal dimension, maximum and minimum diameters of capillaries), fluid properties (such as viscosity, contact angle and interfacial tension) and pore structure parameter (relative roughness) in fractal porous medium.Besides, the relationship between water saturation and distance is presented according to Buckley-Leverett solution.The impaction of flow resistance on water saturation profile is discussed.


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About this article

The effect of flow resistance on water saturation profile for transient two-phase flow in fractal porous media

Show Author's information Ting Lu1,2, Zhiping Li1,2( ), Fengpeng Lai1,2, Ya Meng1,2, Wenli Ma1,2
School of Energy Resources, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, P.R.China
Beijing Key Laboratory of Unconventional Natural Gas Geological Evaluation and Development Engineering, Beijing 100083, P.R.China

Abstract

Due to the rapid development of Micro-Electro-Mechanical System, more and more attention has been paid to the fluid properties of porous media, which is significant for petroleum engineering.However, most of surfaces of pores and capillaries in porous media are rough.On the approximation that porous medium consists of a bundle of tortuous and rough capillaries, a Buckley-Leverett conceptual model with considering flow resistance is developed based on the fractal geometry theory, which is beneficial to predict water saturation profile in porous medium.The proposed Buckley-Leverett solution is a function of fractal structural parameters (such as pore fractal dimension, tortuosity fractal dimension, maximum and minimum diameters of capillaries), fluid properties (such as viscosity, contact angle and interfacial tension) and pore structure parameter (relative roughness) in fractal porous medium.Besides, the relationship between water saturation and distance is presented according to Buckley-Leverett solution.The impaction of flow resistance on water saturation profile is discussed.

Keywords: rough surfaces, porous media, Fractal, transient two-phase flow, flow resistance

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Publication history
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Publication history

Received: 14 January 2018
Revised: 06 February 2018
Accepted: 07 February 2018
Published: 13 February 2018
Issue date: March 2018

Copyright

© The Author(s) 2018

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful for the high performance computing platform in China University of Geosciences (Beijing). This work is supported by 2014 major achievements transformation project of the central colleges and universities in Beijing (Grant No. ZDZH20141141501) and development scale prediction and development pattern study of shale gas reservoirs (Grant No. 2016ZX05037-006) which are gratefully acknowledged.

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This article is distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY-NC-ND) license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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