Studying of parameters of two-phase displacement in porous media with MRI technique

Abstract

This study describes experimental research on two-phase flow displacement using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) techniques. The overall purpose of this investigation is to determine kinetics process of phase trapping during (water-oil) two-phase flow, the front deformation and the phases saturation propagation along a vertical model. In these water flooding experiments, the porous medium model consists of packed beads of polystyrene (0.4 mm < dp < 0.6 mm) or sand grains (0.02 mm < dp < 0.50 mm). In order to conduct high accuracy experiments, a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectrometer operating at 14 T (corresponding to a 600 MHz 1H resonance) equipped with an imaging device was used. With this equipment we can measure and visualize the two-phase flow in a vertical model of porous medium under ambient conditions. The obtained results have shown that the oil saturation profile is strongly influenced by the material properties such as the phase wetting, the sample porosity and permeability as well as the injection rate. The influence of flow velocity on the residual oil saturation was also studied. The experimental results allow an essential understanding of immiscible fluid displacement in two different types of porous medium that differ from each other mainly by the effects of wettability.