EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF RELATIVE PERMEABILITY UPSCALING FROM THE MICRO-SCALE TO THE MACRO-SCALE

Pyrak-Nolte, Laura J. ; Yu, Ping ; Cheng, JiangTao ; Chen, Daiquan ; Giordano, Nicholas ; Mustata, Mirela ; Coy, John ; Cooper, Nathan ; Nolte, David D.

Purdue Research Foundation (United States)

关键词: Fluid Mechanics;    Saturation;    Fluid Flow;    Spatial Distribution;    Hydraulics;   

DOI  :  10.2172/812665
RP-ID  :  NONE
RP-ID  :  AC26-99BC15207
RP-ID  :  812665

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

The principal challenge of upscaling techniques for multi-phase fluid dynamics in porous media is to determine which properties on the micro-scale can be used to predict macroscopic flow and spatial distribution of phases at core- and field-scales. The most notable outcome of recent theories is the identification of interfacial areas per volume for multiple phases as a fundamental parameter that determines much of the multi-phase properties of the porous medium. A formal program of experimental research was begun to directly test upscaling theories in fluid flow through porous media by comparing measurements of relative permeability and capillary-saturation with measurements of interfacial area per volume. During this reporting period, we have shown experimentally that the coherence detection can be performed in a borescope. The measurement of interfacial area per volume (IAV), capillary pressure and saturation in two dimensional micro-models structures has shown the existence of a unique relationship among these hydraulic parameters for different pore geometry. The measurement of interfacial area per volume on a three-dimensional natural sample, i.e., sandstone, is essentially completed for imbibition conditions.