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Flow rate impacts on capillary pressure and interface curvature of connected and disconnected fluid phases during multiphase flow in sandstone

2017; Elsevier BV; Volume: 107; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.advwatres.2017.05.011

1872-9657

Anna L. Herring, Jill Middleton, Rick B. Walsh, Andrew Kingston, Adrian Sheppard,

Hydraulic Fracturing and Reservoir Analysis

We investigate capillary pressure-saturation (PC-S) relationships for drainage-imbibition experiments conducted with air (nonwetting phase) and brine (wetting phase) in Bentheimer sandstone cores. Three different flow rate conditions, ranging over three orders of magnitude, are investigated. X-ray micro-computed tomographic imaging is used to characterize the distribution and amount of fluids and their interfacial characteristics. Capillary pressure is measured via (1) bulk-phase pressure transducer measurements, and (2) image-based curvature measurements, calculated using a novel 3D curvature algorithm. We distinguish between connected (percolating) and disconnected air clusters: curvatures measured on the connected phase interfaces are used to validate the curvature algorithm and provide an indication of the equilibrium condition of the data; curvature and volume distributions of disconnected clusters provide insight to the snap-off processes occurring during drainage and imbibition under different flow rate conditions.