A Novel Oil-Water Two-Phase Flow Numerical Simulation Method In Tight Sandstone Reservoirs

Abstract

Abstract As a crucial factor affecting water flooding in tight sandstone reservoirs, dynamic capillary pressure (DCP) has significant impact on the production performance during oil-water flow. In this work, a novel numerical simulation method with DCP is developed to study oil displacement in tight sandstone reservoirs. Based on this new model, the impacts from DCP to water/oil displacement (or water flooding effects) are analysed. The results of this work show that the effects brought by dynamic capillary pressure cannot be neglected. The more significant dynamic effects of capillary pressure correspond to the sample with lower permeability. The effect of DCP is probably a major contributor to non-linear flow (non-Darcy flow) in tight sandstone reservoirs during water flooding process. Compared with the conventional flow theory (e.g., static capillary pressure theory), our derived model with DCP can help to reduce the uncertainty in water/oil flow in tight sandstone reservoirs.