P E T R O L E U M E N G I N E E R I N G
Numerical and Laboratory Study of Gas Flow through Unconventional Reservoir Rocks
RPSEA Piceance Basin Tight Gas Research Review
Xiaolong Yin, Assistant Professor
Petroleum Engineering, Colorado School of Mines
April 21 2011
P E T R O L E U M E N G I N E E R I N G
Presentation Outline
Challenges and our research activities
Our RPSEA project and collaborators
Preliminary results
Goals and objectives
RPSEA Piceance Basin Research ReviewApril 21, 2011, Denver, Colorado
P E T R O L E U M E N G I N E E R I N G
Background
In very tight reservoir rocks, both measurement techniquesand our understanding of the physics are being challenged
Our groups research activities focus on pore-scale physics and flow using direct simulation and experiments
Specifically, we investigate what makes unconventional rocks unconventional Surface interaction
Non-continuum slippage
Heterogeneity in pore structure and rock-fluid interactions
RPSEA Piceance Basin Research ReviewApril 21, 2011, Denver, Colorado
P E T R O L E U M E N G I N E E R I N G
Our RPSEA Project
RPSEA 09122-29 02/2011 02/2014 Use nanofluidic chips and single-molecule detection techniques to
visualize fluid flow in nano-sized pores
Combine core flooding test and SEM imaging to correlate fluid flow in tight rocks to pore structures
Develop pore-scale numerical models to provide information that cannot be easily obtained from experiments, such as three-dimensional motion of fluids
Our Team Missouri University of Science & Technology B. Bai (core flooding),
Y. Ma (single-molecule detection)
Colorado School of Mines X. Yin (pore-scale models), K. Neeves(nanofluidic chips)
RPSEA Piceance Basin Research ReviewApril 21, 2011, Denver, Colorado
P E T R O L E U M E N G I N E E R I N G
Traditional laboratory studies
Pulse-decay permeability measurement
Mercury porosimetry
Linear core flooding
Ultra-centrifuge
PVT (CSM)
These equipments allow us to study
Porosity and permeabilityStorage capacity and transportMultiphase flows and formation damage
A CMS-300 Pulse-Decay Permeameter
RPSEA Piceance Basin Research ReviewApril 21, 2011, Denver, Colorado
P E T R O L E U M E N G I N E E R I N G
Non-traditional laboratory studies
What makes flow in unconventional reservoir rocks unconventional? Surface interactions
Non-continuum slippage
Heterogeneity in surfaceproperties
Fractures and cracks
In-situ stress
Some of these effects can be studied using micro (right) and nano-scale (below) porous media analogs constructed on silicon / polymer chips
Photo courtesy of Keith Neeves
Chemical Engineering
Colorado School of Mines
This list is probably far from complete.
RPSEA Piceance Basin Research ReviewApril 21, 2011, Denver, Colorado
P E T R O L E U M E N G I N E E R I N G
Preliminary results from micro-chip experiments
Data and photo provided by Keith Neeves and Melissa Wu ,
Chemical Engineering, Colorado School of Mines
RPSEA Piceance Basin Research ReviewApril 21, 2011, Denver, Colorado
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Pe
rme
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Experiment LB Simulation
Permeability comparison
Air-water two phase flow test: Left: The geometry is initially saturated with water
Below: Air is injected in the lower left corner forcing water out of the channels
P E T R O L E U M E N G I N E E R I N G
Simulation of micro- and nano-scale flows
Numerical tools have been and are being developed to study fluid flow with non-continuum effects in nano-sized pores
Representative porous media geometry models
Experimentally measured and k and pore structure
Direct numerical simulation models:Lattice-Boltzmann (for Navier-Stokes)DSMC (for non-continuum flows being developed)
Pore structureRelative permeabilityEffect of stressAdsorption / Desorption
RPSEA Piceance Basin Research ReviewApril 21, 2011, Denver, Colorado
P E T R O L E U M E N G I N E E R I N G
Preliminary results from pore-scale modeling
Porosity-permeability relation is the key to rock typing and understanding geomechanical effects on fluid flow
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Porosity
Homogeneous Geometry
Heterogeneous Geometry
Ideal, channelized geometry porosity-permeability shows a strong correlation
More realistic, heterogeneous geometry porosity-permeability shows large scattering
RPSEA Piceance Basin Research ReviewApril 21, 2011, Denver, Colorado
P E T R O L E U M E N G I N E E R I N G
Preliminary results from pore-scale modeling
A universal porosity-permeability correlation can be developed by recognizing that the large pores do not contribute to permeability
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Conductive Porosity
Homogeneous Geometry
Heterogeneous Geometry
These data are from our scoping studies using 2D geometries
3D simulations and experiments are underway
Such a correlation can be used to determine the geometry of pores from bulk measurement without resorting to image analysis
RPSEA Piceance Basin Research ReviewApril 21, 2011, Denver, Colorado
P E T R O L E U M E N G I N E E R I N G
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Porosity
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Parallelized, 3D pore-scale simulator
3D Representative Geometries
3D Porosity-Permeability Data
3D Simulator Parallel Speedup
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Number of CoresS
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Slope = 1
RPSEA Piceance Basin Research ReviewApril 21, 2011, Denver, Colorado
P E T R O L E U M E N G I N E E R I N G
Goals and objectives
Simulations with controlled
geometries and assumed physics Micro- and nano-
fluidic experiments with controlled
geometries and real physics
Core-scale experiments with
real geometries and real physicsIncreasing level of
reality
The combined approach will significantly improve our understanding of fluid flow on nano-scale and unconventional reservoir dynamics
RPSEA Piceance Basin Research ReviewApril 21, 2011, Denver, Colorado
P E T R O L E U M E N G I N E E R I N G
Acknowledgements
Collaborators Baojun Bai, Yinfa Ma (MUST)
Keith Neeves (CSM, ChemE)
Qinjun Kang (Los Alamos National Lab)
Students Feng Xiao (PE)
Lei Wang (PE)
Melissa Wu (ChemE)
Funding RPSEA
P E T R O L E U M E N G I N E E R I N G
Simulated vs. measured permeability
Simulation of flow through digital cores from CT-scan
CT and experimental data from Imperial College
Numerical simulations are done in CSM
A1 BSS C1 F42A S1 S2
Porosity 42.9 19.6 23.3 33 14.1 24.6
Resolution 3.85 5.345 2.85 9.996 8.683 4.956
K (exp) 7,220 1,286 1,102 59,000 1,678 3,898
K (sim) 8,675 1,507 1,192 59,331 2,006 4,076
% error 20.2% 17.2% 8.1% 0.6% 19.6% 4.6%
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