Stochastic analysis of three-phase flow in heterogeneous porous media: 2. Numerical simulations

1997 ◽  
Vol 33 (7) ◽  
pp. 1559-1566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alaa E. Abdin ◽  
Jagath J. Kaluarachchi
Keyword(s):  
Porous Media ◽  
Numerical Simulations ◽  
Stochastic Analysis ◽  
Heterogeneous Porous Media ◽  
Phase Flow ◽  
Three Phase ◽  
Three Phase Flow

A Robust Methodology To Simulate Water-Alternating-Gas Experiments at Different Scenarios Under Near-Miscible Conditions

SPE Journal ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (05) ◽  
pp. 1506-1518 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedram Mahzari ◽  
Mehran Sohrabi
Keyword(s):  
Porous Media ◽  
History Matching ◽  
Flow In Porous Media ◽  
Phase Flow ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Matching Process ◽  
Water Alternating Gas ◽  
Three Phase ◽  
Three Phase Flow ◽  
Cycle Dependent

Summary Three-phase flow in porous media during water-alternating-gas (WAG) injections and the associated cycle-dependent hysteresis have been subject of studies experimentally and theoretically. In spite of attempts to develop models and simulation methods for WAG injections and three-phase flow, current lack of a solid approach to handle hysteresis effects in simulating WAG-injection scenarios has resulted in misinterpretations of simulation outcomes in laboratory and field scales. In this work, by use of our improved methodology, the first cycle of the WAG experiments (first waterflood and the subsequent gasflood) was history matched to estimate the two-phase krs (oil/water and gas/oil). For subsequent cycles, pertinent parameters of the WAG hysteresis model are included in the automatic-history-matching process to reproduce all WAG cycles together. The results indicate that history matching the whole WAG experiment would lead to a significantly improved simulation outcome, which highlights the importance of two elements in evaluating WAG experiments: inclusion of the full WAG experiments in history matching and use of a more-representative set of two-phase krs, which was originated from our new methodology to estimate two-phase krs from the first cycle of a WAG experiment. Because WAG-related parameters should be able to model any three-phase flow irrespective of WAG scenarios, in another exercise, the tuned parameters obtained from a WAG experiment (starting with water) were used in a similar coreflood test (WAG starting with gas) to assess predictive capability for simulating three-phase flow in porous media. After identifying shortcomings of existing models, an improved methodology was used to history match multiple coreflood experiments simultaneously to estimate parameters that can reasonably capture processes taking place in WAG at different scenarios—that is, starting with water or gas. The comprehensive simulation study performed here would shed some light on a consolidated methodology to estimate saturation functions that can simulate WAG injections at different scenarios.

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