- 4335 -

A New Method of Calculating Polymer

Relative Permeability in Porous Media
Renyi Cao
MOE Key Laboratory of Petroleum Engineering, China University of
Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China
Corresponding Author, e-mail: caorenyi@gmail.com
Changwei Sun
MOE Key Laboratory of Petroleum Engineering, China University of
Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China
Corresponding Author, e-mail: schw-yl@163.com

ABSTRACT
As the coupled effect of absorption and non-Newtonian behavior of polymer solution, the
current method cannot accurately describe the character of relative permeability curves for
polymer flooding in porous media. In this paper, we consider the rheological property of
polymer in porous media to modify the calculation method of relative permeability, and
improved the method to process the data from the non-steady state experiment, which is much
simpler than the traditional method. Due to the influence of rheological property of polymer,
the polymer relative permeability calculated with the improved method is higher than the
traditional J BN method.
KEYWORDS: Polymer flooding, Relative permeability, Non-Newtonian behavior,
Experimental data processing, Calculation method
INTRODUCTION
Traditionally, the relative permeability is calculated with the non-steady-state method through
the displacement experiment. This method is based on the one-dimension water flooding theory,
in other words, the main foundation is the B-L theory, which describes that the distribution of oil
and water saturation is the function of time and distance in the process of water flooding. Because
the oil and water saturation change over time and distance, the entire water flooding is an
unstable process and the method is regarded as non-steady state method
[1]
. The method of
measuring non-steady relative permeability is good at wide range, simple operation, short
measurement time and reliable data.
Vol. 18 [2013], Bund. T 4336

Generally, we use the J BN method to process the relative permeability
[2, 3]
. Many
researchers have also attempted to make the process of the relative permeability more accurate.
Yang
[4]
proposed graphic means, function-matching method, and cubic water saturation matching
method to calculate relative permeability, and compared the advantages and disadvantages of
each method.
The polymer flooding is two-phase flow of oil and polymer solution in porous media.
Because the non-Newtonian behavior and absorption of polymer solution
[1,5]
, it is a very
complicated and coupled process for the polymer solution flowing in porous media
[5-7]
, and also
difficult to measure it's relative permeability curves
[8-9]
. In this paper, we considered the polymer's
non-Newtonian behavior and built a new approach method to calculate the polymer relative
permeability. Also we improved the "J BN" data processing method for the non-steady-state
relative permeability experiment.
FLOWING EQUATIONS OF NON-NEWTONIAN
POLYMER IN POROUS MEDIA
Steady flow in porous media with the Darcy Formula is expressed in one dimension as,
d p
d x K

u =
(1)
For the Power-law fluid, the relationship between viscosity and shear rate is,
1 n
H

=
(2)
The shear rate of Power-law fluids in porous media could be calculated through
Eq.3,
( )
1
2
3
9 150
12
n
n
H
K
n
| u
(
| |
= + (
|
\ . (

(3)
For polymer flooding, there are two phases: water (polymer solution) phase and oil phase. If
we assume the polymer solution is Power-law fluid
[9]
, the motion equations of the water phase
and oil phase are,
rp n
p
eff
KK
dp
dx
u

=
(4)
ro
o
o
KK dp
dx
u

=
(5)
where

( )
1
1
2
3
9 150
12
n
n
n
eff p p
H
H K
n
|

(
| |
= +
(
|
\ .
(

(6)
The effective porosity of polymer solution flowing in the porous media could be expressed
with the water phase's saturation as,
Vol. 18 [2013], Bund. T 4337


( )
p p wc
S S | | =
(7)
According to the Posenille Law, the permeability of fluid in capillary tubes is,

4 2
2 2
8 8
o o
n r r
K
A
t |
t t
= =
(8)
So, the effective permeability of the polymer solution can be obtained from Eq.7 and Eq.8 as,

( )
p p w c
K K S S =
(9)
Then the effective viscosity in Eq.6 of polymer solution is converted to,

( )
( )
1
1
2
2 3
9 150
12
n
n
n
eff p wc
H
H K S S
n
|

(
| |
= + (
|
\ . (

(10)
The one-dimensional motion equations in Eq.4 and Eq.5 of polymer flooding can be deduced
to,
n
p rp
o
o r o ef f
K
K
u

u
=
(11)
We defined the factor
rp
o
ro eff
K
K

= . Since
rp
K ,
ro
K and
eff
are the function of polymer
solution phase's saturation S
p
, is also the function of S
p
.
So, we could deduce the shunt volume of polymer phase as,
1
1
/ 1 /
p p
p n n
p o p p p
f
u u
u u u u u

= = =
+ + +
(12)
CALCULATION EQUATIONS OF POLYMER RELATIVE
PERMEABILITY
The oil phase could be considered as the Newtonian fluid, so according to traditional theory
of two phase flow, the relative permeability of oil phase could be calculated with the former
formula derived from Newtonian fluid
[7, 8]
,

( )
( )
( )
1 ( )
p
o
we wi p we
p p
Q t
Q t
S S f S
V V
= +
(13)
Vol. 18 [2013], Bund. T 4338


( ) ( )
( )
( )
1
1
p
r o w e o w e
p
d
Q t
K S f S
d
I Q t
| |
|
|
\ .
=
| |
|
|
\ .

(14)
where,

( )
o t
L Q t
I
K A p

=
A
(15)
Because the polymer solution is non-Newtonian fluid, we should calculate its relative
permeability based on the rheological property in porous media. Considering the polymer
solution as Power-law fluid, we could get the relative permeability
p r
K with Eq.16,
eff
rp ro
o
K K

= (16)
Based on the former processing, we already got the equations of calculating
eff
and
ro
K ,
( )
( )
1
1
2
2 3
9 150
12
n
n
n
eff p wc
H
H K S S
n
|

(
| |
= + (
|
\ . (

(10)
( ) ( )
( )
( )
1
1
p
ro we o we
p
d
Q t
K S f S
d
I Q t
| |
|
|
\ .
=
| |
|
|
\ .

(14)
In the next step, in order to calculate the
rp
K with Eq.16, we should solve the factor . The
factor could be calculated with function of shunt volume through Eq.12
1
1
1
n
p
p
f
u

(17)
So the relative permeability of polymer solution phase is,
1
1
( )
( )
1 ( )
n
p eff we
rp ro we
p we o
S
K K S
f S
u

(18)
Then the Eq.14, Eq.18, Eq.10 and Eq.18 composed the functions of calculating the relative
permeability of polymer phase and oil phase for the non-Newtonian polymer flooding in porous
media.
Vol. 18 [2013], Bund. T 4339

IMPROVED METHOD OF EXPERIMENTAL DATA
PROCESSING
Generally, the J BN method involves the derivative (Eq.19) to process the experiment data
during measuring the relative permeability with the non-steady-state method.
1 1
( ) ( ) /
ro w o w
t t
K S f S d d
V IV
( (
=
( (

(19)
However, all experimental data can't be described by one function, so that its hard to deal
with the experimental data. The relative permeability experiment is used constant speed to drive,
so it can be replaced the differential with a change value (
A
), then the formula can be converted
into the Eq. 20 as below,
( )
( )
o w
ro w
f S
K S =
Z
(20)
Where,
( ) ( )
1 1
/
p p
Q t Q t I
( (
Z = A A
( (
( (

(21)
( )
( ) ( )
( )
eff p w
rp w ro w
o o w
f S
K S K S
f S

=
(22)
( )
( ) /
o w o o p
f S v v v = + (23)

1 ( )
p o w
f f S =
(24)
As we have inhibited the factor in Eq.12,
1
1
1
n
p
p
f
u

(25)
The relative permeability of polymer solution phase is,
1
1
( )
( )
1 ( )
n
p eff we
rp ro we
p we o
S
K K S
f S
u

(26)
This method is suitable to record more points and also requires accurate measure instrument.
However if the amount of liquid production changes slightly during the water stable phase, we
could use a simple difference quotient displaces differential to accurately describe the experiment
results. Consider this condition, this method still apply widely.
Vol. 18 [2013], Bund. T 4340

DISCUSSION
We used the new method to process a case of polymer displacement experiment. The
temperature is 20 and the injection rate is 1.0mL/min. The length of natural core is 8.7cm, the
diameter is 2.5cm, the air permeability is 856.5310
-3
m
2
, and porosity is 32.8%. The polymer's
relative molecular weight is 1.510
7
, concentration is 1000 mg/L, consistency coefficient H is
71.2, and the Power-Law exponent n is 0.6. Experimental water and oil viscosity are 0.6mPas
and 10mPas.
Fig. 1 is the compared results of relative permeability curves for polymer flooding with the
improved method and J BN method. We can get the following characteristics of polymer flooding:
(1) Due to the influence of rheological property of polymer, the water relative permeability
calculated with the improved method is higher than the traditional J BN method.
(2) The oil relative permeability with both the improved method and the J BN method are
very closed.


Figure 1: Improved method and J BN method relative permeability curve of polymer
flooding
CONCLUSION
(1) We built a new approach method to calculate the polymer relative permeability, in which
the polymer's non-Newtonian behavior is considered.
(2) We improved the method of data processing for non-steady state experiment of polymer
relative permeability, and the new method is much simpler than the traditional method.
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1.0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
Sw
K
r
Krw-New Method
Kro-New Method
Krw-JBN Method
Kro-JBN Method
Vol. 18 [2013], Bund. T 4341

(3) Due to the influence of rheological property of polymer, the water relative permeability
calculated with the improved method is higher than the traditional J BN method, and the oil
relative permeability with both the methods are very close.
NOMENCLATURE
Q(t) -- cumulative water injection volume;
Vp -- pore volume;
S
w
-- water saturation;
I -- flowing capacity ratio;
K -- permeability, m
2
;
-- porosity;
H -- Power-law fluid shear rate of 1s
-1
;
n -- power law fluid power-law exponent;
x -- the flow distance of the polymer flooding leading edge, cm;

o
-- the oil viscosity, mPas;

eff
-- the effective viscosity, mPas;
f
p
, f
o
-- oil phase volume and containing polymer water phases;

o
,
p
-- namely oil and polymer solution flow velocity, cm/s; respectively,
k
ro
, k
rp
-- the oil phase and an water phase containing polymer relative permeability;
k
o
, k
p
-- the oil phase and an water phase containing polymer permeability.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China
(E040351304220) and Science Foundation of China University of PetroleumBeijing
(No.KYJ J 2012-02-02).
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