A SCALING CRITERION FOR MSICIBLE DISPLACEMENTS

G. COSKUNER R.G. BENTSEN

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JCPT90-01-10 TECHNICAL NOTE A scaling criterion for miscible displacements GOKHAN COSKUNER Shell Canada Limited Calgary, Alberta and RAMON G. BENTSEN Department of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineering The University of Alberta ABSTRACT The use of scaled laboratory models to simulate reservoir condi- tions is one of the more effective methods for evaluating the merit of a miscible oil recovery process. When using this approach it is important to keep in mind that, becal4se of the adverse solvent to oil viscosity ratio, most miscible displacements are dominated by viscous fingering.
Because viscous fingering plays a critical role in the recovery process, it is important that its impact be handled correctly. However, conventional scaling methods cannot account properly for the viscous instabilities usually associated with mis- cible displacement.
In this paper a recently developed scaling group, which can be used for scaling instability in the laboratory, is presented. The new scaling group includes explicitly, for the first time, the effect that the length of a porous medium has on the instability of a mlsci'- ble displacement. Moreover, it is shown that, while
the individu- al effects of transverse and longitudinal dispersion cannot be scakd, their combined effect on the controlling mechanism for most mis- cible displacements (visco
angering) can b
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new scaling criterion. Introduction One of the more effective methods for evaluating a miscible oil recovery process is that of displacements in laboratory models scaled to simulate reservoir conditions. In scaling
of miscible dis- placements, an inspectional analysis, complemented by a dimen- sional analysis, is used usually to obtain a set of scaling criteria(i-3). Moreover, it has been shown that, in order to represent correctly the behaviour of the prototype in the labora- tory, the model must be geometrically similar, and the ratios of all the forces present in the model must be equal to those in the prototype. However, it is sometimes impossible to construct a model so that every one of the forces that exist in the reservoir is scaled simultaneously in the model(3-7). In particular, when
microscopic dispersion in the transverse and longitudinal direc- tions is scaled simultaneously with the macroscopic parameters, impractically large models are required for most laboratory in- vestigations. Therefore, relaxation of some of the scaling require- ments is undertaken, and models which represent the prototype for a restricted number of conditions are devised. However, if some other parameter which has not been scaled exercises significant control over the displacement, then the significance of the labora- tory results for prediction of field operations becomes questionable.
It has long been recognized that miscible displacement with a low viscosity solvent driving a more viscous oil wfll be an unsta- ble process leading to the formation of viscous fingers. Therefore, although the effects of mixing should be considered in any attempt to predict miscible flood performance, it is viscous fingering that is likely to dominate the behaviour of a miscible flood(8). It has been shown that, when viscous tmgffing is the do@t phenome- non, the breakthrough recovery is a function only of the viscosity ratio for both miscible and @scible displacements(l). As a con
sequence, it seems that the most important controlling factor in a miscible displacement is the viscous fingering.
Conventional approaches to the scaling of miscible displacements (inspectional and dimensional analysis) do not give any insight into how to scale the viscous fingering phenomenon. As the instabili- ty of the solvent-oil interfacial region is the controlling mechan- ism, there is a need to scale it. Only under these conditions can the results of laboratory experiments be used in a meaningful way to predict the behaviour in the field. In this paper, a method to scale the
instability in the laboratory to that in the field is suggested. Scaling Criterion In modeffing field displacements in the laboratory, the dimensions of the reservoir and the ratio of viscous to gravitational forces can be scaled. However, in most cases, transverse and longitu- dinal dispersion cannot be scaled because the scaling criterion leads to impractically large models. However, it should be possible, at least, to scale the controlling mechanism, i.e. viscous fingering, by scaring the cut-off wavelength for the instabilities. A hydro- dynamical stability theory can be used for this
purpose.
Recently, a new approach to predicting the onset of instability in miscible displacements has been developed(9,10). The new ap- proach employs a linear stability analysis to obtain the perturba- tion equations. The solution of these equations is obtained through a variational solution technique which enables the introduction of appropriate boundary conditions at the inlet and the outlet of the porous medium. As a consequence, it is possible, for the first time, to infer explicitly the effect that the length of a porous medium has on the instability of a miscible displacement.
Thus, a dimensionless scaling group for predicting the onset of instabil- ity, in a porous medium with a finite length, is obtained. It has long been known, from experimental studies, that the length of a porous medium has an important effect on the stability of mis- cible displacements(l,l]-14). The effect of length was not introduced Paper
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