Evaluation of the Effect of the Dimensionless Parameters in the Scaling of a Waterflooding

Londoño, Fernando W.¹; Naranjo, Carlos E.; and Muñoz, Samuel F.
¹[email protected]

Colombia has a broad briefcase of mature fields and heavy oil where there is a significant percentage of oil in-place with a high potential to increase reserves and production of hydrocarbons. For this reason, it is necessary to make experimental studies on physical models and numerical simulation to evaluate the implementation of technologies to increase the recovery factor as in the case of oil recovery processes.

Given the synergy that can be achieved between the laboratory and numerical simulation of reservoir in this investigation is simulated physically and numerically a waterloding process in a scaled physical model. The parameters used in physical and numerical simulation such as geometry, permeability, injection rate, etc. were scaled from a field (Colombian reservoir) to the laboratory, using dimensional groups. As a result, we obtained porous media properties, fluids and different pressure drop in the prototype and the laboratory model, which meet the criteria of similarity scaling laws.

The selection of this scaling approach was based on the difficulty of working with a porous media identical to the field prototype because the requirements of the scaling technique are very difficult to meet and the displacement tests were performed with synthetic porous media making during the development of research. As a result, we developed a methodology for the fabrication of synthetic porous media scaled physical models.

Built numerical simulation models and adjusted their behavior to the results of the tests, we studied the effect of parameters such as injection rate, the permeability of the porous medium, ratio of viscosities among others: a) in laboratory and b) in the scaling from laboratory to field. From this study we established relationships and conclusions for the application of scaled physical models results in evaluation studies of oil recovery processes.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90166©2013 AAPG International Conference & Exhibition, Cartagena, Colombia, 8-11 September 2013