Spontaneous counter-current imbibition in porous media

从裂缝性储集层中开采石油在很大程度上依赖于水被吸入岩石基质中，从而将石油置换到裂缝中。然而，即使是在非常基本的意义上，人们对这种吸纳过程也知之甚少。拟议的工作将包括一系列实验，以探索渗吸过程的性质，特别是确定这一过程的自相似程度，并确定裂缝和岩石基质之间存在的边界条件。这项工作的结果将对如何在油藏模拟器中模拟这些过程，以及如何优化裂缝性油藏的生产产生重大影响。这一结果也将形成一种基于自发逆流渗吸实验的确定相对渗透率和毛细管压力曲线的新方法的基础。

Recovery of petroleum from fractured reservoirs relies heavily on water being imbibed into the rock matrix, thereby displacing oil into the fractures. However, this imbibition process is very poorly understood, even in a very fundametal sense. The proposed work will comprise a series of experiments to explore the nature of the imbibition process, specifically to determine to what degree this process is self-similar, and to determine the boundary condition that exists between the fracture and the rock matrix. The results of this work will have a major impact on how these processes are modelled in reservoir simulators, and in turn, how production from fractured reservoirs can be optimized. The results will also form the basis of a new method for determining relative permeability and capillary pressure curves based on spontaneous, counter-current imbibition experiments.