Академический Документы
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Культура Документы
DOI 10.1007/s11242-006-9044-9
O R I G I NA L PA P E R
Received: 23 January 2005 / Accepted: 10 August 2006 / Published online: 10 October 2006
Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2006
266
Binshan Ju et al.
Nomenclature
B
Volume factor of fluid
Clij Volume concentration of composition j of particles in {the} phase l.
Csi Mass concentration of salt ions for composition i (kg/m3 )
D
Diffusivity of particle composition i (m2 /s)
Ds Diffusivity of salt, ions, (m2 /s)
f
Flow efficiency factor
k
Transient absolute permeability of a porous media (m2 )
kr
Relative permeability of a porous media
p
Pressure (Pa)
q
Production/injection rate (m3 /s)
R
Net particle change rate on the pore surfaces or at pore throats (1/s)
Rs Solution gasoil ratio
S
Saturation
t
Time (s)
v
Flow rate (m/s)
vc
Critical velocity (m/s)
x
Distance (m)
z
Distance from reference level (m)
c
Release rate of fines by colloidal forces (s1 )
d Rate constant for the deposition of particles on pore surfaces (m1 )
f
Coefficient of flow efficiency
h Release rate of fines by hydrodynamic forces (m1 )
p Capture rate constant of particles at pore throats (m1 )
lij Volume of particles deposited on the pore surfaces per unit bulk volume
lij
Volume of particles trapped at throats per unit bulk volume.
267
1 Introduction
Sanding problems during oil production from poorly consolidated sandstone reservoirs, such as the Gulf of Mexico reservoirs (Deskin et al. 1991), the Southeast Pauls
Valley Field, Oklahoma, and oil fields around the Bohai Gulf, China, may lead to
much adverse influence on oil production facilities. Several researchers (Anne et al.
1997; Davies et al. 1997; Tom et al. 1995; Vsquez et al. 1999) have reported production facility damages and completion difficulties caused by sanding. Anne et al. (1997)
have also studied the relations between water breakthrough and sand or other grains
production. In fact, fines production can have pronounced effects on oil recovery.
Currently, the major approaches to study the sanding process in permeable formations are physical simulation in the laboratory and mathematical simulation. This
paper focuses on the mechanism of fines mobilization, the mathematical model to
simulate fines release and migration process and behavior, the solution methods of
the model, and the development of an oil reservoir numerical simulator.
The sanding process includes three steps: first, fines are released from the surfaces
of porous media when critical colloidal or hydrodynamic conditions are satisfied (Ju
et al. 2002); second, fines migrate with flowing fluids in pores; finally, fines deposition
on pore surfaces or capture at pore throats may occur in the process of fines migration. Therefore, the phenomena of particle release, migration, and retention must be
considered in the mathematical model for sanding.
According to the literature concerning sanding problems (Gruesbeck and Collins
1982; Khilar and Fogler 1983; Liu and Civan 1994; Ohen and Civan 1990; Sharma and
Yortsos 1986), two kinds of models, the macroscopic mathematical model and the
microscopic network mathematical model, are classified. The first kind of model, such
as Gruesbeck and Collinss model (1982), Khilar and Foglers model (1983) and Ohen
and Civans model (1994), is based on continuum theory and fines release and migration theories. However, the second kind describes the flow characteristics of fluid and
fines migration in micro-networks. Sharma and Yortsos model (1986) belongs to the
microscopic network mathematical model. Unfortunately, the microscopic network
mathematical model has some limitations in that it strongly depends on probability, and its numerical solving process uses tremendous amounts of computer time.
Consequently, in this paper the theories of macro-continuous porous media and fines
migration are used to develop a three-dimensional (3D) mathematical model for fines
mobilization in oil formation.
In contrast to previous studies, Khilar and Foglers model (1983) utilizes singlephase flow whereas two-phase flow is considered in Liu and Civans model (1993);
however, the mathematical modeling of multiphase (oil, water, and gas) flow with
fines migration is first considered in this work. Only one particle component is considered in the previous models, though the sizes of particles are very different. In this
paper, in order to describe particle migration more accurately, the particles are not
only divided into hydrophilic and lipophilic particles, but also classified into n compositions for respective hydrophilic and lipophilic particles according to their sizes.
268
Binshan Ju et al.
and clay minerals, is formed under the combination of consolidation and cementation
throughout a long geological period. The pores can be looked as an interconnected
network. Generally, the pores of sandstone are filled with single phase or multiphase
fluids.
In poorly consolidated sandstone, the fine-grained minerals attached to the pore
walls are not frictionally bound, and they may be released from the walls if the activating forces become sufficiently large to overcome the restraining forces. There are
five forces (the attractive potential force of London-van der Waals, repulsion force of
electric double layers, Born repulsion force, acidbase interaction force, and hydrodynamic force) between the particles and porous walls (Khilar and Fogler 1999). When
the sum of the five forces is negative, i.e., the force of attraction is larger than repulsion between particle and porous wall, particles will adsorb on porous wall. Otherwise,
particles will detach from the porous wall.
Adsorption and detachment is a dynamic balance controlled by total forces between
particle and porous wall. In addition, the released grains can move with fluid flow in
the network. Blocking will also take place if the diameters of the particles are larger
than the sizes of the pore throats, or several particles with smaller sizes than pore sizes
bridge at pore throats.
Transportation of grains (or fines) in porous media is governed by diffusion and
convection. The analysis above shows that the interaction forces between grains and
pore walls are key factors to control fines migration in porous media. Although the
formulae to calculate the five energies are listed in the reference (Khilar and Fogler
1999), the parameters in the formulae can be obtained only with great difficulty
for some complicated factors. Since there are no accurate methods to calculate the
parameters and the release and retention rates of particles on pore walls, Gruesbeck
and Collins (1982) and Khilar and Fogler (1999) used a coefficient, , to describe
approximately the release and retention rates of particles. Based on this idea, the
authors introduced critical parameters to trigger fines release, and the coefficients
to describe release, deposition (i.e., particles being attached on pore surfaces), and
capture (i.e., particles becoming blocked in pore throats) rates of particles in Sect. 3
(see mathematical model description).
269
(4)
(5)
w = pw + w z = po + pcwo + w z,
(6)
g = pg + g z = po + pcgo + g z,
(7)
where t is time, is the porosity of porous media, S, , and p are saturation, viscosity,
and pressure of fluids, respectively, k is the absolute permeability, kr is the relative
permeability, B is the volume factor of fluid, q is the production or injection rate of
fluid, Rs is the solution gasoil ratio, is the specific gravity of fluids, z is the distance
from reference level, and pc is the capillary force.
Transport of salt ions in porous media
The transport of salt ions in porous media is governed by the convectiondiffusion
adsorption equation (Ju et al. 2002; Liu and Civan 1993). The three-dimension expression of the equation is
Csi
Csi
270
Binshan Ju et al.
Clij
Clij
+
uzl Clij Sl Dzlij
+ Sl
+ Rlij + Qlij = 0,
z
z
t
j = 1, 2 . . . n.
(9)
(10)
where the particle release rate from pore wall by colloidal forces (Rclij ), the particle
release rate from pore wall by hydrodynamic forces (Rhlij ), the deposition rate on
pore surfaces (Rdlij ), and the capture rate at pore throats (Rplij ), can be, respectively,
defined as
Rclij = clij (Csic Csi ),
(11)
where Csic is the critical concentration of salt for composition i of the particles. When
the concentration is lower than Csic , colloidal forces between the fines and pore walls
act as repulsion forces, which result in fines release. A rate constant, clij , is used
to describe the release rate of fines by colloidal forces. However, if Csi > Csic , the
colloidal forces act as attraction forces and no particles are released by the colloidal
forces, i.e., clij = 0. For the oil wetting particle, cooj is always equal to zero because
the particles released by colloidal forces are limited to water wetting particles.
Rhlij = hlij (vl vlc ),
(12)
where vlc is the critical flow velocity of phase l for particle released by hydrodynamic
forces. That is to say, the hydrodynamic forces, produced by fluid flow, on the particles
must be high enough to trigger the particle release from pore walls. The minimum
flow velocity needed to trigger the particle release is called critical flow velocity. hlij
is a rate constant for the release of particles by hydrodynamic forces. When velocity of
phase l satisfies vl < vlc , no particles are released by hydrodynamic forces (hlij = 0).
Rdlij = dijl vl Clij ,
(13)
where dlij is a rate constant for the deposition of particles on pore surfaces. During the transportation of particles carried by flowing fluids, some particles may be
adsorbed again on pore walls.
Rplij = plij vl Clij ,
(14)
where plij is a capture rate constant of particles at pore throats. During the transportation of particles in porous media, some particles may be captured by bridging and
blocking. In this case, a coefficient, plij , is used to describe the capture rate.
271
lij
= Rplij ,
t
(15)
(16)
where lij is the volume of particles deposited on the pore surfaces per unit bulk vol is the volume of particles trapped at the
ume, and lij is equal to 0lij at initial time; lij
) (0lij + 0lij
).
(20)
= (lij + lij
(21)
in which k0 and 0 are initial permeability and porosity, k and are instantaneous
local permeability and porosity of porous media, and f is a constant for fluid seepage
allowed by the plugged pores. The range of index n is from 2.5 to 3.5. Pore throats may
be plugged by blocking or bridging, which causes some pore throats to close for fluid
flow. A flow efficiency factor, f , is defined as the fraction of the original cross-sectional
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Binshan Ju et al.
area open for flow. According to Jus expression (2002), the flow efficiency factor, f ,
as a linear function of the volume of particles entrapped at pore throats, is given
empirically by
f =1
felij lij
,
(22)
where felij is the coefficient of flow efficiency.
A mathematical model representing Eqs. 122 has been developed which, in a
closed form solution, can be used to study production performance of poorly consolidated sandstone reservoirs and predict sanding behavior.
Inject salt water into core (keep a very low injection rate to avoid particle release
induced hydrodynamic forces).
Decrease gradually the salt concentration in injection water and observe the
outflow from the outlet of the core.
If fines start to appear in the outflow, the salt concentration is at a critical level
for fines release.
Increase the flow velocity of fluid in the core by increasing step by step the
injection rate.
Observe the outflow from the outlet of the core.
If fines begin to appear in the outflow, the flow velocity of fluid in the core is at
the critical level.
Fig. 1 Flow chart for core displacement 1. Bottle. 2. Pump. 3. Vessel. 4. Precision pressure gauge.
5. Multi-way valve. 6. Core holder. 7. Volumetric cylinder. 8. Hand pump 9. Salt water. 10. Liquid for
core displacement
273
5 Numerical solution
The mathematical model used here consists of a set of nonlinear equations, which
mainly includes the continuity equations of oil (o), water (w), and gas (g) phases,
the convectiondiffusionadsorption equation, and a series of auxiliary equations.
The finite-difference method (see Appendix) is used to solve the nonlinear equation
system since the analytical solutions of the system are intractable. In this work, the
implicit-pressure and explicit-saturation (IMPES) and self-adaptive line successive
over relaxation (LSOR) iterative technique was used to solve the pressure-saturation
equation, and an explicit method was employed to solve the continuity equations of
the transport of salt ions and particle migration in porous media. The procedures of
the solution are as follows:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
The pressure and saturation of oil, water, and gas are obtained first by solving
the mass balance equation.
The velocity field is calculated by Darcys law.
The concentration of particle composition j in phase l for wettability i is solved
by the convectiondiffusionadsorption equation.
The new porosity (), absolute permeability (k), are calculated.
A second iteration is computed if maximum time is not reached.
Value
Value
40
50.00
1.25
16.61
0.5
0.213
850
ww1
oo1
hww1 , m1
hoo1 , m1
dww1 , m1
doo1 , m1
vwc , m s1
0.06
0.005
3.8 104
1 104
1.2 104
1.0 104
1.8 103
274
6
Permeability ratio
Binshan Ju et al.
5
4
3
Numerical
Experimental
1
0
0.05
0.1
0.15
Permeability ratio
5
4
3
2
Numerical
Experimental
1
0
10
20
30
40
50
Injection volumes(PV)
of Figs. 2 and 3 can be divided into three phases. In the first phase, the flow velocity just exceeds the critical velocity and a small quantity of fines is flushed out; the
dramatic increase of k/k0 is caused by mass production in the second phase; and the
speed of the increase of k/k0 slows down for the tunnels flushed by water in the third
phase.
The sensitivity for grid block size
In order to study the sensitivity of numerical results with grid block size, coarse, moderate and fine grids are used in the numerical model. The examples with five-spot
patterns include four water injection wells located at the corners and one oil well in
the center. The parameters used in the simulation are given in Table 2. In addition,
reference values to the parameters related with fines mobilization are also listed in
the table. The concentration of salt in injection water is equal to the concentration of
salt in formation water, which avoids fines release by colloidal forces. Three models
with different grid sizes were run, respectively, on the simulator for 1,800 days. The
contour maps of permeability at 1,800 days are given in Figs. 46. Figures 46 present the slightly different permeability distribution maps as a function of grid block
size. Figure 7 gives the change of average permeability of all grid blocks with time
for the three types of grid. It shows that the average permeability within the three
types of grids is approximately equal. The average permeability calculated by coarse
grids is slightly higher than the values calculated by the moderate and fine grids
after 1,500 days. It implies that the moderate grid is small enough to predict fines
mobilization.
275
Value
Parameters
related to fines
mobilization
Value used
in this study
Reference value
11 11 2
cww1 , s1
0.00
1 10 105
21 21 2
coo1 , s1
0.00
0.00
31 31 2
hww1 , m1
3.8 104
0.1 50 104
210
210
16
hoo1 , m1
dww1 , m1
doo1 , m1
2.1 104
1.2 104
1.0 104
0.1 50 104
0.2 20 104
0.1 10 104
12.7
pww1 , m1
2.2 106
1 10 106
0.48
36.5
0.65
0.30
850
poo1 , m1
feww1
feoo1
vwc , m s1
voc , m s1
2.2 106
0.60
0.60
0.2 104
0.1 104
1 10 106
0.1 0.8
0.1 0.8
0.01 20 104
0.05 20 104
0.1
ww1
0.03
0.00 0.06
15.0
oo1
0.02
0.00 0.06
15.0
276
Binshan Ju et al.
200
180
Water well 2
Water well 4
160
140
120
100
Oil well
80
60
40
Water well 1
20
Water well 3
0
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
200
180
Water well 2
Water well 4
160
140
120
100
Oil well
80
60
40
20
Water well 1
Water well 3
0
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
277
Water well 2
Water well 4
200
180
160
140
120
Oil well
100
80
60
40
Water well 1
Water well 3
20
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
Average permeability
950
11X11
21X21
31X31
930
910
890
870
850
830
300
600
900
1200
1500
1800
Time(days)
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Binshan Ju et al.
Value
Parameters related to
fines mobilization
Value
21 21 2
0.05
10.0
8.0
13.87
0.6
45
0.65
0.28
850
0.05
0.001
0.070.09
0.001
0.0001
0.0001
0.0011
0.0010
0.1
water1
water3
200
180
160
140
3.5
120
oil
100
2.5
2
80
1.5
60
1.3
40
water4
water2
20
1.2
1.01
0
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
Fig. 8 The contour map of the ratio of transient permeability to initial permeability (k/k0 ) after
production of 15 years
100
279
water1
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
oil
10
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Fig. 9 The contour maps of water saturation after production of 15 years (non-sanding)
100
water1
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
oil
10
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Fig. 10 The contour maps of water saturation after production of 15 years (sanding)
280
Binshan Ju et al.
7 Conclusions
1.
2.
3.
4.
A mathematical model of migration of fine-grained particles in a threedimensional, multiphase porous medium has been developed. The model is used
to simulate changes in porosity, permeability, and production performance.
The numerical results closely match the experimental data, indicating that the
model appears to simulate the process of fines mobilization in a reasonable
manner.
Although convergence can be guaranteed by modifying time steps, grid block sizes
still have slight effects on the permeability distribution and average permeability.
The grid block size of 10 m is small enough to satisfy computation precision
requirements.
Since fines dislodgement and flushing increases the permeability of the flushed
zone, it constitutes a self-reinforcing phenomenon that promotes the linear growth
of the flushed, high permeability zone. This results in an increase in the permeability heterogeneity of the reservoir and accelerates water break through.
Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Prof. Zhian Luan and his graduates, Oil reservoir laboratory of displacement mechanism, U.P.C, East China, for the experimental work.
281
Appendix
We define the conductivity of oil, water, and gas as
k kro
,
Bo o
k krw
,
Tw =
Bw w
k krg
Tg =
,
Bg g
To =
(23)
(24)
(25)
We rewrite the right item of the continuity equation of oil, water, and gas, combine
the three equations and eliminate saturation, resulting in
Bo Bg Rs To Po (o Z) qo Bo
+Bw Tw Po (w Z) Pcow qw Bw
+Bg Tg Pg g Z + Pcgo + Rs To (Po (o Z)) qg Bg
Po
,
(26)
= Ct
T
where
Bg Rs
1 Bo
,
Bo Po
Bo Po
1 Bw
,
Cw =
Bw Po
1 Bg
Cg =
,
Bg Po
Co =
Ct = Cr + Co So + Cw Sw + Cg Sg ,
(27)
(28)
(29)
(30)
(31)
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Binshan Ju et al.
Vo = Ton (o Z) qo Bo ,
Vw = Twn ( (w Z) + Pcwo ) qw Bw ,
Vg = Tgn g Z Pcgo Rns Ton (o Z) qg Bg ,
(39)
Vp = Vb ,
(40)
t = t
n+1
t ,
(37)
(38)
(41)
E = AK1 + AJ1 + AI1 + AI+1 + AJ+1 + AK+1 + Vp Ct t ,
B = Bo Bg Rs Vo + Bw Vw + Bg Vg + Vp Ct t .
(43)
(44)
(45)
Equation 43 is a linear equation system. The linear equations can be solved by the
LSOR technique.
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