Experimental investigation of dispersion phenomenon in a fractured porous medium

  • Authors

    • Ali Sanati Faculty Member at Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar, Iran
    • Mohammad Yousefi Khoshdaregi Department of Petroleum Engineering, Petroleum University of Technology, Ahvaz, Iran
    2015-02-10
    https://doi.org/10.14419/ijet.v4i1.4136
  • Enahanced Oil Recovery, Dispersion, Miscible Displacement, Fracture.
  • Dispersion of fluids flowing through porous media is an important phenomenon in miscible displacement. Dispersion causes instability of miscible displacement flooding; therefore, to obtain and maintain the miscibility zone, the porous medium dispersivity should be considered in displacing fluid volume calculation. Many works have been carried out to investigate the dispersion phenomenon in porous media in terms of theory, laboratory experiments and modeling. What is still necessary is to study the effects of presence of fracture in a porous medium on dispersion coefficient or dispersivity. In this work dispersion phenomenon in a fractured porous medium has been investigated through a series of miscible displacement tests on homogeneous sandstone core samples. Tests were repeated on the same core samples with induced fracture in the flow direction. The effects of fracture on miscible displacement flooding have been studied by comparison of the results of dispersion tests in the absence and presence of fracture. In the presence of fracture, breakthrough time reduced and the tail of effluent S-shaped curve smeared. Moreover, the slope of S-shaped curve at 1 pore volume of injected fluid was lower than homogeneous case which means dispersion coefficient increased. The results presented in this work provide an insight to the understanding of dispersion phenomenon for modeling of miscible displacement process through naturally fractured reservoirs.

  • References

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      [2] Sandrea, R., 1974, Dynamics of Petroleum Reservoirs under Gas Injection: Gulf Publishing Company, Houston, Texas.

      [3] Niemann, E.H., Greenkorn R.A., and Eckert, R.E., 1971, Dispersion during Flow in Nonuniform, Heterogeneous Porous Media: SPE Paper No. 3365.

      [4] Chen, S., 1991, Investigation of Dispersivity as a Reservoir Rock Characteristic and its Determination from Well Logs: PhD Thesis, University of Oklahoma.

      [5] Fred, I. and Stalkup J, 1984, Miscible Displacement: SPE Monograph Series.

      [6] K. M. G. Li, 1983, Random Choice Method for Treating the Convection-Diffusion Equation: SPE Paper No. 12237

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  • How to Cite

    Sanati, A., & Yousefi Khoshdaregi, M. (2015). Experimental investigation of dispersion phenomenon in a fractured porous medium. International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 4(1), 209-213. https://doi.org/10.14419/ijet.v4i1.4136