NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF DISPLACEMENTS IN SYSTEMS

CONTAINING A LENS HETEROGENEITY

H.C. MCKEAN R.A. DAWE

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JCPT90-06-10 RESERVOIR PERFORMANCE AND OPTIMIZATION Numerical simulation of displacements in systems containing a lens heterogeneity H.C. McKEAN* and R.A. DAWE Mineral Resources Engineering Department Imperial College, London, U.K. ABSTRACT a porous system causes distortion of fluid streamlines and devia- Miscible fluid displacement through a lens heterogeneity has been
tion from the production profiles of equivalent homogeneous studied. Flow displacement and effluent profiles have been obsystems. tainedfrom bead pack experiments and used to validate the results
Layered systems have been extensively studied for both misci- obtained from numerical simulation. Subsequently the effects of
ble and immiscible displacements(i-8), but systems containing permeability contrast, lens size and fluid viscosity ratio have been
lenses have not yet been fully exan-iined(',2,8,9). Lenses are non- examined with the simulator. The effect of the lens heterogeneity
continuous heterogeneities). Parameters determined from core on the displacement profiles is emphasized, especially the signifitests (e.g. absolute permeability,
relative pen-neabihty, residual satu- cance of premature breakthrough. Its neglect will cause incorrect
ration) normally assume homogeneous core properties, but an reservoir engineering interpretation; for ewmple that of core floods
unknown lens of differing permeability within the core will affect for relative permeability determinations. Koval's theory on
the fluid flow and hence the reliability of these parameters. Hup- representing heterogeneity in porous media has been applied and,
plei49) examined theoretically the effect of lenses on the determinalthough not in agreement with the results obtained here, such
ation of relative permeabihties in core samples and showed that an approach appears promising in representing well-defined heterothey can seriously affect the deternidnation of displacement pro- geneity, such as lenses, for simulation purposes.
files and residual oil saturation within the core. It is also neces- sary to know how reservoir sweep patterns are affected by lens heterogeneity for recovery profile predicfions at the reservoir scale. Introduction This study has
investigated modelling
of
displacement
through The understanding of how fluids flow in response to heterogenesystems contaiwng lenses. Peninent parameters for study included ity is fundamental to the study of displacement in reservoir syspermeability contrast (C = permeability of lens/permeabihty of tems. Heterogeneity in the form of permeability contrast within
surrounding medium), length and width ratios (L = length of
heterogeneity/length of system, W = width
of
heterogeneity/width
of system) and position of the lens, as well as viscosity ratio (M
To Effluent Measuring Apparatus
viscosity
displaced/viscosity
displacing).
Numerical
simulation
results have been validated
by
some
experimental
measurements,
C// 3 Way
and the simulator used to investigate systematically the parameters
Valve
C, L, W and M. The production profiles were then examined using
el Frame
Teflon Pipes
Koval's theory in an attempt to incorporate heterogeneity effects
into a simulator grid block. In
Pa,king
Experimental
Two-dimensional glass bead models (20 cm by 10 cm by
0.6
cm)
Inlet
Outlet Groove
containing a rectangular centrally placed lens structure of dimenGauze
Gauze
(Port)
sion 6.7 cm b@, 3 cm were used (Fig. 1)(1,2,8). Permeability conFrom
trasts were produced by using glass beads of differing sizes, here I Pump
a permeability ratio of 2.5 was used (actually 360:144 Darcy). The
porosity was constant at 400/o throughout
the
system.
Suitable F71GURE 1. Experimental anAngement for miscible displacements plumbing allowed linear displacements
to
be
achieved.
Constant through lens heterogeneities. rate displacements were used with appropriate
rates
(0.5-1
ml/ minute i.e. relatively fast compared to field rates) to minimize dis- persion effects (examined in
separate experiments(11,12)). Matched density miscible systems were used for
the
experiments *Now with Robertson ERC Ltd., London, U.K. discussed in this work, NAith the model held horizontal to minimize
gravity effects. The fluids were dyed to observe displacement fronts Keywords: Heterogeneity, Displacements, Lens heterogeneity, Numerical
and to enable effluent profiles to be recorded by UV absorption simulation, Koval theory, Permeability contrasts, Simulator grid blocks.
and colorimetrn@ at the outlet end of the pack. In non-unit vis- Paper
reviewed
and
accepted
for
publication
by
the
Editorial Board of The journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology. 88 The
Journal
of
Canadian
Petroleum
Technology