ABSTRACT
The flow of petroleum fluids through reservoir rocks is a highly complicated process due to the multi-phase flow and mass-transfer phenomena that occur. Although a reservoir rock may extend areally over many thousands of square metres and be several hundred metres thick, it has a porous structure with pores of size 1–100 µm. Fluid flow behaviour at this scale significantly affects overall reservoir performance.
This paper discusses some of the microscopic pore-level modelling studies carried out at Imperial College. Our objectives are to gain a fuller understanding of reservoir behaviour at the pore scale, including the displacement, entrapment and mobilization mechanisms involved in miscible and immiscible fluid systems, with and without mass transfer and particle movements. We emphasise our physical modelling work using visual micromodel techniques, and highlight pore-scale events. Examples of qualitative and quantitative work are given. We also indicate how these studies can provide the necessary information and knowledge required for the development of improved mathematical models to predict reservoir performance and allow more efficient exploitation of petroleum resources.
