Abstract
Surface tension controls all aspects of fluid flow in porous media.
Through measurements of surface tension interaction under multiphase
conditions, a relative permeability relationship can be determined.
Relative permeability is a numerical description of the interplay
between two or more fluids and the porous media they flow through. It is
a critical parameter for various tools used to characterized subsurface
multiphase flow systems, such as numerical simulation for oil and gas
development, carbon sequestration, and groundwater contamination
remediation. Therefore, it is critical to get a good statistic
distribution of relative permeability in the porous media under study.
Empirical relationships for determining relative permeability from
capillary pressure are already well established but do not provide the
needed flexibility in that is required to match laboratory derive
relative permeability relationships. By expanding the existing methods
for calculating relative permeability from capillary pressure data it is
possible to create both two and three-phase relative permeability
relationship. Existing laboratory measured relative permeability data
along with mercury intrusion capillary (MICP) data coupled with
interfacial tension and contact angle measurements were used to
determine the efficacy of this approach to relative permeability curve
creation. The relative permeability relationships determined with this
method were fit to the existing laboratory data to elucidate common
fitting parameters that were then used to create relative permeability
relationships from MICP data that does not have an associated laboratory
measured relative permeability relationship. The study was undertaken as
part of the Southwest Regional Partnership on Carbon Sequestration (SWP)
under Award No. DE-FC26-05NT42591.