Title: Mobilisation and stabilisation flow of multiple oil slugs in a capillary model

Authors: Alexandre Gutierry Melo De Oliveira; Liming Dai

Addresses: Industrial System Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science, University of Regina, 3737 Wascana Pkwy, Regina, SK S4S 0A2, Canada ' Industrial System Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science, University of Regina, 3737 Wascana Pkwy, Regina, SK S4S 0A2, Canada

Abstract: This research aims to investigate the mobilisation and flow of multi-oil slugs in a capillary model saturated with water, for simulating the motion of oil droplets trapped inside the porous medium of an oil reservoir. The mobilisation and stabilisation points of multi-oil slugs in the model are quantified under various experimental conditions with different numbers of oil slugs. The maximum pressure required to mobilise the oil slugs is identified. For generating a stabilised flow, the oil slugs are all found experiencing consecutively the following pressure and movement change patterns: motionless - slowly increased pressure drop - dramatically increased pressure drop - flow impending - flow stabilised. An analysis comparing the pressure drop and oil slugs travelling displacements for one, two, and three oil slugs are carried out. The research contributes to a better comprehension of the mechanism of mobilisation and the flow of multi-oil slugs subjected to capillary force and externally applied pressure. [Received: July 31, 2020; Accepted: October 26, 2020]

Keywords: oil recovery; porous media; multi-slugs; water flooding; pressure drop.

DOI: 10.1504/IJOGCT.2021.118822

International Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Technology, 2021 Vol.28 No.4, pp.442 - 458

Received: 30 Jul 2020
Accepted: 26 Oct 2020
Published online: 08 Nov 2021 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article