Two-phase displacement of compressible fluids from stratified reservoirs

Mutual displacement equations are derived within the framework of the modified phase permeability model, taking the compressibility of one of the phases into account. A self-similar solution of one-dimensional displacement problems is obtained. The role of compressibility in displacement from nonuniform stratified reservoirs is analyzed.Translated from Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No.2, pp. 74–83, March–April, 1993.     

Creep and Stress Relaxation in a Plate Loaded Along the Contour of a Circular Hole

Analytical solutions of the creep and stress-relaxation boundary-value problems of a plate loaded externally along the contour of a circular hole are obtained using an unsteady creep model based on nonclassical representations for elastic and viscous properties of materials. It is assumed that one force component and one displacement component are specified at the boundary.__________Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 46, No. 4, pp. 146–153, July– August, 2005.     

Stability of frontal displacement of fluids in a porous medium in the presence of interphase mass transfer and phase transitions

To preserve the stability of the front relative to small perturbations when one fluid is displaced by another the pressure gradient must decrease on crossing the front in the direction of displacement. Initially, this criterion was established for the piston displacement of fluids [1, 2], and later in the case of two-phase flow of immiscible fluids in porous media for the displacement front corresponding to the saturation jump in the Buckley—Leverett problem [3, 4]. Below it is shown that the same stability criterion remains valid for flows in porous media accompanied by interphase mass transfer and phase transitions [5, 6]. Processes of these kinds are encountered in displacing oil from beds using active physicochemical or thermal methods [7] and usually reduce to pumping into the bed a slug (finite quantity) of reagent after which a displacing agent (water or gas) is forced in. The slug volume may be fairly small, especially when expensive reagents are employed, and, accordingly, in these cases the question of the stability of displacement is one of primary importance. These active processes are characterized by the formation in the displacement zone of multiwave structures which, in the large-scale approximation (i.e., with capillary, diffusion and nonequilibrium effects neglected), correspond to discontinuous distributions of the phase saturations and component concentrations [5–10]. It is shown that the stability condition for a plane front, corresponding to a certain jump, does not depend on the type of jump [11, 12] and for a constant total flow is determined, as in simpler cases, by the relation between the total phase mobilities at the jump. An increase in total flow in the direction of displacement is destabilizing, while a decrease has a stabilizing influence on the stability of the front. Other trends in the investigation of the stability of flows in porous media are reviewed in [13].Translated fron Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 2, pp. 98–103, March–April, 1986.     

Motion of a cylindrical cavity near a free boundary of a liquid

The dynamics of a cylindrical cavity in a liquid with no allowance for vertical displacement are considered in [1–3]. The present study investigates the pulsation motion of a cylindrical cavity near a free boundary of a liquid, allowing for displacement of the axis of the cavity in the vertical direction.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 6, pp. 173–176, November–December, 1988.     

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.     

Barothermal effect in the displacement of oil from a porous medium

The formation of the temperature field due to the barothermal effect when oil is displaced from a porous medium by water is investigated in the piston displacement and two-phase flow approximations. The approach of the displacement front to the outlet from the porous medium leads to a sharp increase in temperature and the temperature anomalies are observed to depend on the saturation.Translated from Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No.3, pp. 104–109, May–June, 1992.     

Application of potential theory to a problem of the limiting configuration of the stagnant zones in the displacement of viscoplastic oil by water

A solution of the problem of determining the limiting-equilibrium portions of residual viscoplastic oil in connection with the displacement of oil by water from a porous formation in a multiwell system is constructed by the methods of potential theory and analyzed. The results of a comparison with a standard exact solution are presented for certain asymptotic cases.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 1, pp. 182–185, January–February, 1989.     

Invariant Integrals in the Problem of a Crack on the Interface between Two Media

The equilibrium problem for an elastic body containing a crack on the interface between two media is considered. It is proved that there exist invariant (independent of the integration surface) integrals in this problem. The existence of invariant integrals is also established in the problem of a contact between an elastic body and a rigid stamp. Nonlinear boundary conditions of mutual non-penetration are prescribed on the contact boundaries. The physical meaning of invariant integrals is established.__________Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 46, No. 5, pp. 123–137, September–October, 2005.     

Characterisation of non-linear viscoelastic foods by the indentation technique

A method to determine the non-linear viscoelastic constitutive constants from indentation force–displacement data corresponding to different indentation speeds has been developed. The method consists of two parts. In the first part, the force–displacement data is expressed as two functions which represent the strain and the time-dependent responses, respectively. From these functions, the time-dependent constants and the instantaneous force–displacement response are obtained. In the second part, the strain-dependent variables are determined from the instantaneous force–displacement response through an inverse analysis based on the Levenberg–Marquardt method. The method was verified by numerical experiments using the properties of cheese as examples.     

Bending of Nonthin Transversally Isotropic Plates with Curvilinear Openings

The problem on the spatial stress–strain state of a nonthin transversally isotropic plate with a curvilinear nearly circular opening is considered. The plate is assumed to be subject to bending moments on the opening contour and at infinity. To solve the problem, it is proposed to make mutual use of two well-know methods — expansion of the displacement and stress components into Fourier series in Legendre polynomials of the thickness coordinate and boundary-shape perturbation. The equations and recurrent relations necessary for solution of the problem in an arbitrary approximation are presented     

Effect of the kinetics of sorption,solution and heat transfer processes on the displacement of oil by active solutions

Among the new methods of enhanced oil recovery the most important are the processes of oil displacement by solutions of active agents (chemical reagents) capable of modifying the hydrodynamic characteristics of the porous flow system. Self-similar processes of oil displacement by active solutions have previously been studied [1–4] for a thermodynamic-equilibrium distribution of the agent in the dissolved in both phases and sorbed states. However, for small-scale displacement processes the effect of the mass transfer kinetics is important. Here the problem of oil displacement by an active solution is solved with allowance for the thermodynamic nonequilibrium of the physicochemical heat and mass transfer processes. In the problem of oil displacement by a solution of water-soluble surfactant or polymer the sorption kinetics of the chemical reagent are taken into account, and in the problem of oil displacement by carbonated water the kinetics of the process of solution of the carbon dioxide in the displaced phase. Allowance for these effects is especially important in interpreting the results of laboratory displacement experiments. The problem of the displacement of oil by hot water is solved with allowance for heat exchange with the surrounding strata. As distinct from the previously investigated case of a stationary temperature distribution in a bounded neighborhood of the formation (supply of heat in accordance with Newton's law) [5, 6], here we analyze the case of nonstationary heating of surrounding rock strata of infinite thickness (Leverrier model).Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 6, pp. 60–71, November–December, 1985.     

Two-dimensional problems of displacement in the case of nonlinear filtration laws

A method is proposed for calculating the multidimensional displacement of oil possessing anomalous properties from productive strata by water. Numerical solutions are obtained on the basis of the most generally accepted models of non-Newtonian oil within the framework of the theory of two-phase filtration of immiscible liquids.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 5, pp. 70–75, September–October, 1976.     

On the mechanism of cyclic flooding for oil extraction

A two-dimensional model is considered for the displacement of oil by water from a stratum that is nonuniform over its thickness when a periodic elastic flow regime is employed.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Meknanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 3, pp. 58–66, May–June, 1980.     

Numerical investigation of the process of displacement of oil by steam

A calculation model of the process of displacement of oil by steam, based on the equations of three-phase nonisothermal flow with allowance for phase transitions in the water-steam system, is proposed. This model is used for the numerical investigation of the recovery of oil from wateroil zones by means of steam injection. The extraction of oil from wateroil zones is one of the difficult problems of the theory of exploitation of petroleum deposits. The presence of two zones with sharply different fluid resistances leads to considerable nonuniformity in production rates. It is shown that injecting steam significantly reduces this nonuniformity.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 4, pp. 78–84, July–August, 1987.     

Fingering associated with immiscible displacement in a two-layer porous medium

The effect of capillary cross flows on the structure of the displacement front in a two-layer porous medium with different layer permeabilities is examined. It is shown that capillary cross flows along the curved displacement front may lead to stabilization of the displacement. Approximate expressions are obtained for the limiting finger length and the oil displacement coefficient at the moment of breakthrough of the water as functions of the displacement parameters and the form of the functional parameters of the two-phase flow in the porous medium; the results obtained are compared with the results of numerical calculations and the experimental data.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 1, pp. 98–104, January–February, 1991.     

Nonisothermal displacement of high-paraffin oils by water with allowance for solid-phase precipitation

A mathematical model of the nonisothermal displacement of oil by water with allowance for solid-phase precipitation is proposed. Self-similar solutions of the problem of nonisothermal displacement of oil from a homogeneous, thermally insulated formation are obtained. The inverse problems of determining the relative phase permeabilities and the temperature dependence of the paraffin saturation concentration from laboratory displacement data are solved. Exact solutions of the non-self-similar problems of the displacement of high-paraffin oil by a slug of hot water and of the thermal delay problem are obtained. The nonisothermal displacement of high-paraffin oils by water with allowance for heat transfer to the surrounding strata is subjected to qualitative analysis.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 3, pp. 126–137, May–June, 1989.The authors are grateful to A. K. Kurbanov and Yu. V. Kapyrin for useful discussions and their interest in the work.     

Allowing for Rotations about the Normal in Nonlinear Theories of Shells

Consideration is given to three versions of nonlinear strain–displacement relations in the case of small strains and moderately small angles of rotation: (i) relations that neglect rotations about the normal in conformity with the hypotheses of the Donnel–Mushtary–Vlasov theory; (ii) relations, derived from the elasticity equations using Novozhilov's tensor, that exactly allow for rotations; and (iii) relations, proposed by Sanders, that allow for rotations but neglect shear strains. These versions are compared by comparing the solutions of the stability problem for a corrugated cylindrical shell. It is established that the critical loads are close when rotations are allowed for exactly and when Sanders' technique is used     

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.     

Numerical simulation of the displacement of oil by water

If the mobility of a displacing fluid is greater than the mobility of the displaced fluid, the displacement is unstable (see, for example, [1–3]), and the originally plane displacement front is broken up into irregular tongues. It follows from the linear analysis of stability that initially the amplitude of the perturbation increases exponentially, and according to [1] the extended tongues that are formed move with constant velocity relative to the displaced fluid. The intermediate stages in the development of the instability, like questions relating to a more precise formulation of the problem (which involves giving up the piston displacement approximation) remain unstudied. A natural approach to their study is through numerical simulation, which was realized for the first time in [4, 5]. Some of the results of such an investigation are presented in the present paper. In contrast to [4], the main attention is devoted to the development of regular perturbations. It is shown that for the investigated mobility ratios the development of the perturbations follows the linear theory unexpectedly long, and then arrives at a stationary asymptotic regime. We also investigate the influence of the loss of displacement stability on waterless oil extraction in the case of displacement in homogeneous and inhomogeneous strata.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 5, pp. 58–63, September–October, 1979.We thank L. A. Chudov for advice and discussions.     

Structure of saturation jumps in nonequilibrium displacement from porous media

The nonequilibrium displacement characteristics are investigated experimentally and by numerical calculation of the nonequilibrium percolation equations under various conditions of wetting of the porous medium by the displacing and displaced fluids. A scheme for calculating the disequilibrium parameter is proposed.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 6, pp. 97–104, November–December, 1990.