F

ISICA DEL PETR

OLEO REVISTA MEXICANA DE F

ISICA 49 SUPLEMENTO 3, 1416 NOVIEMBRE 2003

The effect of the fractal dimension on saturation trajectories in multi-phase ow
M. Gonz alez V. and M. Araujo F.
Modeling and Reservoir Simulation Department, PDVSA Intevep
Recibido el 13 de diciembre de 2001; aceptado el 19 de sptiembre de 2002
Multiphase ow properties are frequently affected by the saturation history followed by the uids up to their actual condition. In this work
we evaluate the effect of rock wettability and its geometry on uid saturation trajectories for imbibition and drainage processes. The reservoir
rock is described by a fractal pore type model. By using the method of characteristics, we determine the region in the saturation space where
the different displacement sequences take place. A strong dependence between the area associated to the saturation trajectories, the wetting
condition of the rock, and its fractal dimension is found. These results allow us to quantify the impact of rock geometry and wettability on
displacement hysteresis phenomena as observed in natural porous media.
Keywords: Wettability; fractal dimension; relative permeability; multi-phase ow.
Las propiedades asociadas al transporte de uidos en ujo multif asico son frecuentemente afectadas por la historia de saturaci on que siguen
los uidos hasta su conguraci on actual. En este trabajo se eval ua el efecto de la mojabilidad de la roca y su geometra sobre la trayectoria
de saturaci on de uidos en procesos de imbibici on y drenaje. La roca de yacimiento se describe con un modelo tipo poro fractal. Se modelan
procesos de imbibici on y drenaje en sistemas bif asicos y trif asicos, y se determina la regi on del espacio de saturaci on asociado a las diferentes
secuencias de desplazamiento que pueden obtenerse para cada tipo de ujo a partir del m etodo de las caractersticas. Se encuentra una fuerte
dependencia entre el area asociada a las trayectorias de saturaci on, la condici on de mojado de la roca y su dimensi on fractal. Los resultados
obtenidos permiten cuanticar el impacto de la geometra de la roca y la mojabilidad sobre los fen omenos de hist eresis observados en medios
porosos naturales.
Descriptores: Mojabilidad; dimension fractal; permeabilidad relativa; ujo trif asico.
PACS: 47.55M
1. Introduction
The simultaneous ow of three phases - oil, water and gas
- occurs in a variety of displacement processes in oil and
gas reservoirs. To describe the uid behavior under these
conditions, ow properties known as three-phase relative
permeabilities are needed. For the case of two-phase ow
(oil/water, gas/oil or gas/water) there are only two different
saturation paths since the saturation of one phase may ei-
ther increase or decrease. These are called imbibition and
drainage processes. The three phase ow case is more com-
plicated since there may be six different displacement paths
in which the saturation of one phase may either increase or
decrease. Thus the modelling of three-phase relative perme-
ability poses a particular challenge. There are three main ap-
proaches to describe three-phase ow in porous media [1]:
Use of steady-state experimental data for displacement
simulations;
Use of two-phase data to calculate three-phase param-
eters by empirical models such as Stones model [2, 3].
Network models that predict macroscopic parame-
ters, such as relative permeabilities, directly from the
knowledge of the pore structure and the physics of the
displacement. A network could be constructed with
parameters tuned to match two-phase data, and then
used to predict three-phase relative permeabilities for
any type of displacement [4, 5].
In this work we present an extension of a simple fractal
pore model known in the literature as IFPs model [1] which
allows to introduce wettability effects on three-phase correla-
tions and derive analytically three phase ow properties. The
derived equations are used with the characteristics method to
obtain the saturation trajectories of a three-phase system with
a particular geometry and wetting condition. We apply this
methodology to study pore geometry and wettability effects
over saturation space.
2. Method description
2.1. Method of characteristics
We apply the method of characteristics (MOC) by calculating
the displacement efciencies for a three-phase (water (i = 1),
oil ( i = 2), gas (i = 3)) ow problem [6]. Fractional ow
functions f = (f
1
, f
2
, f
3
) are assumed to be a function of sat-
uration only S = (S
1
, S
2
, S
3
). We neglect dissipative effects
- capillary pressure and pressure-dependent uid properties.
Under the above restrictions uid ow is described by a pair
of partial differential equations in the variables S
1
(x, t) and
S : 2(x, t):
S
1t
+f
1x
(S
1
, S
2
) = 0, (1)
S
2t
+f
2x
(S
1
, S
2
) = 0, (2)
THE EFFECT OF THE FRACTAL DIMENSION ON SATURATION TRAJECTORIES IN MULTI-PHASE FLOW 15
the second index indicates differentiation with respect to that
variable. The system of equations is written in the form of a
conservation law:
S
t
+AS
x
= 0, (3)
trivially, the Jacobian matrix Ais given by
A =

f
11
f
12
f
21
f
22

. (4)
For the solution, we search for a curve in the (x, t) space such
that
dx
dt
|
S
= f
11
= f
22
= , (5)
where S
1
= S
1
(), S
2
= S2(), x = x(), and t = t().
f
1
and f
2
are expressed by
f
i
=

i

3
j=1

j
, i = 1, 2, 3, (6)
where
i
is the mobility of the ith phase, and is dened by

i

k
ri
(S)

i
, (7)
k
ri
being the relative permeability and
i
the uid viscosity.
We solve the eigenvalue problem and nd

=
1
2

(f
22
+f
11
)

(f
11
f
22
)
2
+ 4f
12
f
21

, (8)
from these expressions, we are able to calculate one satura-
tion as a function of the other:
dS
1
dS
2
=

f
11
f
12
, (9)
note that S
3
= 1 S
1
S
2
. Saturations paths for the system
starting from an initial condition (S
I
) up to an injected con-
dition (S
J
) are determined. This trajectory will depend on of
three-phase relative permeability correlation used in Ref. 7.
2.2. Three-phase relative permeability model for various
wettability conditions
The uids are distributed in pores of different sizes according
to their wetting characteristics: for a water-wet solid, water
occupies the smallest pores, gas the largest ones and oil the
intermediate size pores. We describe the structure of porous
sample by a fractal pore type model [1] which consists of a
bundle of parallel capillary tubes with a fractal cross-section.
The cross-section of each tube is constructed by an itera-
tive process, dividing half perimeter of a circle into a cer-
tain number of parts, and replacing each one by half a cir-
cle. In this process, a fractal object is generated. The fractal
dimension D
L
is related to the number of elements gener-
ated at a given scale. This property can be determined from
macroscopic properties such as the capillary pressure using
P
c
S
1
1/(D
L
2)
. To describe in a more general case the
wetting condition of a sample, a wettability index is intro-
duced. This parameter has a value between 0 and 1 according
to the wetting characteristic to be modelled (m = 1 water-
wet, m = 0 oil-wet). Poiseuilles law is applied to each cap-
illary of the bundle to calculate the relative permeability to
each uid. The expressions found are
k
r1
(S
1
) = m

S
1

S
1r

+ (1 m) (1 (1 +S
1r
S
1
)

)
4
, (10)
k
r2
(S
1
, S
2
) = (1 m)
2

S
2

S
2r

+m

(S
L
)

(S
1r
+S
2r
)

, (11)
k
r3
(S
3
) = K
rgmax
(1 (1 S
3
S
3r
)

)
4
, (12)
where S
1r
, S
2r
and S
3r
are the residual saturations of each
phase, and exponents and are related to the pore geom-
etry, = 1/2 D
L
and = 2 1. This model may
be tested experimentally by using the wettability index I as
derived from an Amott-Harvey test. Since I has a value in
the range [1, 1], we may use m = (I + 1)/2.
3. Results
In Fig. 1, it is shown a comparison of the applica-
tion of the derived three phase relative permeability
Eqs. (10)-(12) with Stone model, commonly used in
reservoir simulation for a water-wet sample. The sat-
uration paths are very similar in this case even though
the relative permeabilities are completely different.
A marked effect on the saturation paths is observed
when the wettability and pore geometry are varied
(Fig. 2). For the same boundary conditions a depen-
dence of residual oil saturation on the wetting condi-
tion is observed. Residual oil saturation is larger as the
afnity of the surface for oil increases.
FIGURE 1. Comparison of saturation paths for Stones model and
the extended IFP model presented here, for various ow boundary
conditions (from S
Ia
to S
J
and from S
Ib
to S
J
).
Rev. Mex. Fs. 49 S3 (2003) 1416
16 M. GONZ

ALEZ AND M. ARAUJO

FIGURE 2. Effect of wettability (a) and pore geometry (b) over saturation paths.
4. Conclusions
The fractal pore model introduced by Moulu et al. was ex-
tended to derive general analytical expressions of three phase
relative permeability for a porous structure with a wide range
of wettability conditions. The uid afnity is described by
a wetting index with values in the range [0, 1]. The MOC
method was used to study the behavior of saturation trajecto-
ries for samples of different geometries and wettability condi-
tions. The results found indicate that the saturation paths can
be used as a tool to quantify ow effects under three phase
conditions.
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499.
2. H.L. Stone, J. Pet. Tech. 22 (1970) 214.
3. H.L. Stone, J. Can. Pet. Tech. 12 (1973) 53.
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5. D.H. Fenwick and M. Blunt, SPE Jour 3 (1998) 86.
6. L. Lake, Enhaced Oil Recover, 2nd ed (Ed. Hannover, 1999).
Rev. Mex. Fs. 49 S3 (2003) 1416