Numerical Simulation of a Pore-Scale Model Water Flooding Process

This paper describes the numerical simulation of 2D, two-phase flow of water and oil on a pore-scale model (with a total dimension 40 mm × 40 mm × 0.05 mm). The main challenge of this study is the calibration of such micro scale model to established fluid flow equations found in industry standard simulators. Minute flow rate and pressure change conditions across the model challenges the accuracy of a numerical solution. Rigorous sensitivity analysis was performed to understand the influence of rock and fluid properties in an attempt to match pressure and flow rate measured at laboratory experiment.

Three different approaches using various heterogeneity parameters were applied in the simulation process. In order to attain the fluid saturation match, an image analysis tool1 was utilized to calculate the fluid saturation in each grid of the model during the injection process. This simulation study shows that fluid flow equation in commercial simulators could be used to with some degree of confidence to solve pore scale problems. High accuracy of input data such as saturation function curves and water compressibility is of utmost importance to reproduce the pressure behavior in a model of this dimension.