GPR Monitoring of Oil Displacement - A Laboratory Study

In this paper we present laboratory experiments where we address the Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) capability of monitoring oil displacement processes in porous media. This has significant applications in near-subsurface environments where remediation of contaminant such as oil-derived liquids is considered one of the major technical, economical and environmental challenges. Potential applications extend to oil reservoir fields, where technique capable of detecting the water advance towards production well is strongly required. An oil saturated sand box is flooded by water and the process is continuously monitored by a GPR placed at the sand surface and by impedance measurements taken along the sand box height. Strong radar reflections in conjunction with sharp impedance changes occur in the higher oil saturated sand layers. The displacement process is poorly described when the water goes through the lower oil saturated layers due to the reduced electromagnetic contrast. In addition, we present water flooding experiment when the sand initially presents residual water saturation. Overall, the GPR results give a good understanding of the flow dynamics in the sand box.