Horizontal displacement of miscible fluids from fractured porous media

The equations of horizontal displacement of miscible fluids from thin fractured porous formations are derived with allowance for all three mechanisms of mass transfer between the blocks and the fractures. The effect of the difference in the densities of oil and gas and the displacement velocity on oil production is analyzed.Translated from Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No.3, pp. 87–95, May–June, 1992.The author is grateful to A. K. Kurbanov for useful discussions and his intererst in the work and also to G. D. Istomin for carrying out the numerical calculations.     

Gas-gas displacement in a fractured porous reservoir

The results of an experimental investigation of the process of miscible displacement of a gas from a fractured porous reservoir by another gas are presented. It is established that the displacement process is influenced by convective and molecular diffusion. The displacement coefficient depends both on the reservoir properties of the formation and on the technological displacement parameters. The experiments revealed a decrease in the displacement coefficient with increase in the permeability ratio of the joints and the blocks and with decrease in formation pressure. The dependence of the displacement coefficient on the average gas velocity in the reservoir, i.e., the ratio of the gas flow rate to the product of the flow area and the total reservoir porosity coefficient (including the blocks and the joints), is established.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 3, pp. 74–79, May–June, 1991.     

Averaging of stochastic evolution equations of transport in porous media

A study is made of the problem of averaging the simplest one-dimensional evolution equations of stochastic transport in a porous medium. A number of exact functional equations corresponding to distributions of the random parameters of a special form is obtained. In some cases, the functional equations can be localized and reduced to differential equations of fairly high order. The first part of the paper (Secs. 1–6) considers the process of transport of a neutral admixture in porous media. The functional approach and technique for decoupling the correlations explained by Klyatskin [4] is used. The second part of the paper studies the process of transport in porous media of two immiscible incompressible fluids in the framework of the Buckley—Leverett model. A linear equation is obtained for the joint probability density of the solution of the stochastic quasilinear transport equation and its derivative. An infinite chain of equations for the moments of the solution is obtained. A scheme of approximate closure is proposed, and the solution of the approximate equations for the mean concentration is compared with the exactly averaged concentration.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 5, pp. 127–136, September–October, 1985.We are grateful to A. I. Shnirel'man for pointing out the possibility of obtaining an averaged equation in the case of a velocity distribution in accordance with a Cauchy law.     

A New Mathematical Model for Force Gravity Drainage in Fractured Porous Media

In force gas/oil gravity drainage process in fractured porous media, gas is flowing in both matrix and fractures leading to produce a finite gas pressure gradient. Consequently, viscous force plays an important role for displacing matrix oil toward fractures in addition to gravity force that is required to be modeled appropriately. A new analytical model for estimation of steady state oil saturation distribution with assumption of fixed gas pressure gradient throughout the matrix is presented. Moreover, based on some results of this analytical model a different numerical formulation is developed to predict the performance of oil production process. Comparison of the results obtained from this numerical model with the results of a conventional simulator demonstrates that the newly developed model can be applied with satisfactory accuracy. Numerical simulations show that the viscous displacement in fractured porous media can reduce the capillary threshold height, and thus it suggests the force gravity drainage as a favorable production mechanism when the matrix length is close to the threshold height.     

Influence of the structure of a porous medium on the residual gas saturation in the case of capillary displacement by a liquid

A model of a porous medium consisting of randomly branching conical pores is used to investigate the quasistatic displacement of gas by a wetting liquid without application of an external pressure. Allowance is made for the circumstance that in the capillary process all the pores have at least one-sided permeability for the liquid phase. An expression is obtained that relates the residual gas saturation to the parameters which characterize the structure of the pores and the wetting properties of the system. Two new characteristics of the pore space are introduced — the branching parameter and the opening angle of the pores — and the influence of these parameters on the residual saturation is investigated. It is shown that for individual classes of natural media the residual gas saturation depends only on the porosity and the contact angle of wetting.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 5, pp. 128–133, September–October, 1981.     

Theoretical and Experimental Investigations of Miscible Displacement in Fractured Porous Media

In this paper a mathematical model for miscible displacement in fractured porous media is developed. The model takes into account mechanisms of mass transfer between fracture and matrix. The model is normalized by using the dimensionless parameters, which characterize the process, and the analytical solutions of the resulting system of equations are provided by utilizing the method of characteristics. For comparison the results of model with experimental results, laboratory displacement tests have been performed in fractured systems under miscible displacement. The porous media used were cylindrical Asmari cores from Iranian reservoirs containing an artificially vertical fracture. Normal heptane and kerosene were two miscible fluid used. There is very good agreement between experiments and model prediction.     

Flow processes with change of regime in fractured reservoirs

Experimental and industrial observations indicate a strong nonlinear dependence of the parameters of the flow processes in a fractured reservoir on its state of stress. Two problems with change of boundary condition at the well — pressure recovery and transition from constant flow to fixed bottom pressure — are analyzed for such a reservoir. The latter problem may be formulated, for example, so as not to permit closure of the fractures in the bottom zone. For comparison, the cases of linear [1] and nonlinear [2] fractured porous media and a fractured medium [3] are considered, and solutions are obtained in a unified manner using the integral method described in [1]. Nonlinear elastic flow regimes were previously considered in [3–6], where the pressure recovery process was investigated in the linearized formulation. Problems involving a change of well operating regime were examined for a porous reservoir in [7].Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 3, pp. 67–73, May–June, 1991.     

Pressure recovery processes in fractured reservoirs

The analysis of the pressure recovery in an oil field following the shutting in of a well is one of the basic methods of determining or refining the reservoir parameters. For fractured reservoirs the process is complicated by the strong dependence of their flow-capacity characteristics on the state of stress. It is shown that, qualitatively, the pressure recovery processes in fractured and fractured porous media can be correctly described using the integral conservation laws. Numerical solutions are derived in order to estimate the validity of the results obtained.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 5, pp. 77–83, September–October, 1990.     

Percolation model of two-phase flow through porous media

A physical model of the process of two-phase flow of immiscible fluids through a porous medium is developed and used to make an analytical calculation of the dependence of the relative phase permeabilities on the saturation of the medium by one of the phases. The theory is compared qualitatively with experiment for a model capillary radius frequency function and quantitatively with numerical calculations made on a computer. In both cases good agreement is obtained. The pressure dependences of the phase permeabilities are analyzed. The question of residual saturation with the wetting fluid after completion of the displacement process is investigated.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 1, pp. 88–95, January–February, 1987.     

Filtration of two miscible liquids in a fractured porous medium in a gravity field

The article discusses the one-dimensional problem of the displacement of a liquid (petroleum), saturating a fractured porous medium, by another liquid miscible with it in all ratios, in a gravity field. A system of two nonlinear equations in partial derivatives, of the hyperbolic type, is obtained for the concentration of one of the liquids in fractures and blocks. The system is integrated numerically by the method of characteristics. On the basis of the results universal dependences are obtained for the distribution of the concentrations over the stratum and the yield of petroleum.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR. Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 2, pp. 166–168, March–April, 1973.The authors axe grateful to V. M. Entov for his evaluation of the work.     

Flow of Coal-Bed Methane to a Gallery

Coal-seam methane reservoirs have a number of unique feature compared to conventional porous or fractured gas reservoirs. We propose a simplified mathematical model of methane movement in a coal seam taking into account the following features: a relatively regular cleat system, adsorptive methane storage, an extremely slow mechanism of methane release from the coal matrix into cleats and a significant change of permeability due to desorption.Parameters of the model have been combined into a few dimensionless complexes which are estimated to an order of magnitude. The simplicity of the model allows us to fully investigate the influence of each parameter on the production characteristics of the coal seam. We show that the reference time of methane release from the coal matrix into cleats – the parameter which is most poorly investigated – may have a critical influence on the overall methane production.     

Inverse problems of multiphase displacement under conditions of interphase mass transfer

Inverse problems of determining the relative phase permeabilities and flow distribution function from the multiphase displacement data under conditions of interphase mass transfer are solved. A method of identifying the phase equilibrium model of a multicomponent system in a porous medium from the displacement data is proposed.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 4, pp. 78–87, July–August, 1988.     

The noneouilibrium dissociation of diatomic molecules in a boundary layer

A study is made of the influence of the process of diffusion of diatomic molecules on the rate of their thermal dissociation. On the basis of the ladder model of the dissociation of molecules — truncated harmonic oscillators — an expression is obtained for the macroscopic reaction rate which depends explicitly and exponentially on the square of the gradient of the gas temperature. The molecules constitute a small admixture in a monatomic inert gas. The effect of the diffusion on the rate of dissociation is illustrated by the results of numerical calculation of the flow in the boundary layer around the stagnation point of a blunt body.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Shidkosti i Gaza, No. 1, pp. 161–170, January–February, 1985.     

Dispersion coefficient with the displacement of a gas from a porous medium by a gas

The article gives the dependence of the dispersion coefficient on the Péclet number, obtained with the analysis of experimental data on the displacement of a gas by a gas from a porous medium of varying permeability.Translated from Zhurnal Prikladkoi Mekhaniki i Teknicheskoi Fiziki, No. 4, pp. 142–145, July–August, 1975.The authors are grateful to N. P. Baturina and L. N. Demidova for their aid in carrying out and analyzing the experiments, and to V. M. Ryzhik for evaluating the results of the work.     

Exchange model of displacement in porous media

A displacement model constructed on the assumption of the exchange of components between the volumes of the pore space moving and not moving in the direction of displacement is considered. The theoretical solution is shown to be in good agreement with the actual results of the displacement of oil by water. Criterial equations for predicting the interphase exchange coefficient and the relation between the nonmoving and moving volumes of the pore space are constructed on the basis of a series of experiments in uncemented porous media.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 1, pp. 91–97. January–February, 1991.     

Flow in a fractured medium with fractal fracture geometry

A model of a fractured porous medium in which the fracture system forms a fractal with Hausdorff-Bezikovich dimension d is proposed. The fractal is immersed in a saturated porous medium with the dimension D (D d, D=2, 3). The rock skeleton is assumed to be nondeformable. The system of flow equations is written out for cylindrically (D=2) and spherically (D=3) symmetrical flows. When D=d the model reduces to the well-known Barenblatt-Zheltov model. Certain particular solutions, which make it possible to determine the phenomenological parameters of the model experimentally, are obtained.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 5, pp. 66–70, September–October, 1990.     

Numerical Simulation of Single-Phase and Multiphase Non-Darcy Flow in Porous and Fractured Reservoirs

A numerical method as well as a theoretical study of non-Darcy fluid flow through porous and fractured reservoirs is described. The non-Darcy behavior is handled in a three-dimensional, multiphase flow reservoir simulator, while the model formulation incorporates the Forchheimer equation for describing single-phase or multiphase non-Darcy flow and displacement. The non-Darcy flow through a fractured reservoir is handled using a general dual-continuum approach. The numerical scheme has been verified by comparing its results against those of analytical methods. Numerical solutions are used to obtain some insight into the physics of non-Darcy flow and displacement in reservoirs. In addition, several type curves are provided for well-test analyses of non-Darcy flow to demonstrate a methodology for modeling this type of flow in porous and fractured rocks, including flow in petroleum and geothermal reservoirs.     

Convective combustion of aerosuspensions in fuel that contains the oxidant

The convective combustion of porous gunpowder and high explosives is an intermediate stage in the transition from layered combustion to detonation [1, 2]. The theory of convective combustion of such systems is developed in [3–6]. It has now become necessary to analyze the possibility of convective combustion of aerosuspensions. The present paper develops the theory of the combustion of such systems on the basis of an analysis of the equations of gas dynamics with distributed supply of mass and heat; the problem of nonstationary motion of a convective combustion front is formulated. In the homobaric approximation [7], when the pressure is assumed to be spatially homogeneous, an analytic solution to the problem is found; this determines the law of motion of the front and the distribution of the parameters that characterize the gas and the particles in the combustion zone. Necessary conditions for the transition from convective combustion to explosion are obtained.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 5, pp. 49–56, September–October, 1980.I thank R. I. Nigmatulin for helpful comments and advice, and also V. A. Pyzh and V. K. Khudyakov for discussing the work.     

Self-similar solutions of problems of two-phase flow through porous media with allowance for the compressibility of one of the phases

Self-similar problems of mutual displacement are solved with allowance for the compressibility of one of the phases. It is found that when an incompressible liquid is displaced by a gas the extent of displacement increases. The mutual displacement of gas-liquid mixtures results in the formation of not one but several saturation jumps, i.e., the structure of the displacement zone is much more complex.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 1, pp. 71–80, January–February, 1990.The authors are grateful to V. I. Maron for useful discussions.     

Nonstationary Gas Filtration Caused by an Intense Thermal Action on a Damp Porous Medium

A mathematical model and an algorithm are proposed for evaluating nonstationary heat and mass transfer in a porous medium that contains a mechanically absorbed liquid and a two–component gas (vapor—inert gas mixture). The case of an intense thermal action on a damp porous mixture caused by an external heat flux and convective heat transfer is considered. Typical flow regions and typical regions of the interaction between the phases are described.