Fluid Velocity Profile in Ascending and Descending Layer Heterogeneous Porous Media

Abstract

A laboratory experiment with the heterogeneous layered medium has been extended to the concept of flow units in hydrocarbon reservoir systems based on the established refraction-like property of fluids at the interface of two media of different porosities. The purpose of this research is to improve the accuracy of reservoir systems models by this extension. Numerical simulation was applied on both Ascending Layer Heterogenous (ALH) and Descending Layer Heterogenous (DLH) experimental data, to obtain the properties of each layered system and deduce models. This research shows that when fluid flows from a unit of lower to higher porosity unit, referred to as ALH, a maximum volume flux is experienced at higher deflection angles from normal. This tendency increases with the increase in porosity difference. On the other hand, a flow from a flow unit of higher to that of a lower porosity, referred to as DLH will result in the maximum volume flux being experienced at the normal with decreasing magnitude as the deviation increases from normal. In addition, the flow becomes more chaotic and less predictable with an increase in porosity difference in both ALH and DLH. Furthermore, two methods of models combination to obtain a single generalized model were explored. For ALH, the Vector Space Model (VSM) and New Model (NM) could be used interchangeably because of the negligible difference in their mean absolute error. At the same time, for the DLH, only the VSM is more appropriate.