Pore-Scale Modelling of Three-Phase Capillary Pressure Curves Directly in Uniformly Wet Rock Images

In this work, we developed a semianalytical model to compute three-phase capillary pressure curves and associated fluid configurations for gas invasion in uniformly wet rock images. The fluid configurations and favorable capillary entry pressures are determined based on free energy minimization by c...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yingfang Zhou, Dimitrios Georgios Hatzignatiou, Johan Olav Helland, Yulong Zhao, Jianchao Cai
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2021-01-01
Series:Geofluids
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/6622079
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In this work, we developed a semianalytical model to compute three-phase capillary pressure curves and associated fluid configurations for gas invasion in uniformly wet rock images. The fluid configurations and favorable capillary entry pressures are determined based on free energy minimization by combining all physically allowed three-phase arc menisci. The model was first validated against analytical solutions developed in a star-shaped pore space and subsequently employed on an SEM image of Bentheim sandstone. The simulated fluid configurations show similar oil-layer behavior as previously imaged three-phase fluid configurations. The simulated saturation path indicates that the oil-water capillary pressure can be described as a function of the water saturation only. The gas-oil capillary pressure can be represented as a function of gas saturation in the majority part of the three-phase region, while the three-phase displacements slightly reduce the accuracy of such representation. At small oil saturations, the gas-oil capillary pressure depends strongly on two-phase saturations.
ISSN:1468-8115
1468-8123