Events Calendar

Petroleum Engineering Seminar

Speaker: Dr. Mohammad Piri, University of Wyoming, Dept. of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering

Talk Title: Multiphase Flow Properties in Mixed-Wet Porous Media:

Abstract: Development decisions for hydrocarbon fields or CO2 storage sites are based on reservoir performance predictions under different putative development strategies. These predictions use numerical simulation of multiphase fluid flow through a geological description of the reservoir. Much attention has been given to the assignment of properties - such as porosity and permeability - that faithfully represent the expected spatial heterogeneity and are consistent with a variety of different measurements of reservoir properties. In comparison, multiphase properties, particularly relative permeability, are given less attention, and a single set of relative permeabilities is often assigned to a given rock type, or even to the whole field. For many improved/enhanced hydrocarbon recovery projects and CO2 sequestration schemes, accurate estimates of relative permeabilities are crucial. The uncertainties associated with assigning multiphase flow properties often mean that the development projects are not carried out, with lost opportunity costs that may be hundreds of millions of dollars for a single field. This problem is even more acute for recovery of hydrocarbons from unconventional resources such as tight gas reservoirs.

In recent years there has been a surge in interest in pore-scale modeling as a physically-based tool to predict macroscopic properties such as relative permeabilities. The displacement physics for two- and three-phase flow in mixed-wet porous systems has been worked out at the pore scale. In this seminar, two distinct groups of state-of-the-art physically-based pore-level models will be presented: 1) A three-dimensional random network model will be discussed that is capable of simulating two- and three-phase flow processes at the pore level using faithful representations of the pore space. The displacement mechanisms incorporated in the model are based on the physics of multiphase flow observed in micromodel experiments. The model computes relative permeabilities, saturation paths, and capillary pressures for a variety of displacement sequences. The predicted two- and three-phase relative permeabilities are successfully compared against their experimental counterparts. Other applications of the technique, for instance, in fractured systems, will also be discussed. 2) A dynamic particle-based model for direct pore-level simulation of incompressible flow and contaminant transport in disordered porous media will be presented. The model is capable of simulating flow directly in three-dimensional high-resolution microtomography images of rock samples. The model is based on moving particle semi-implicit (MPS) method and is used to predict various flow and transport properties such as longitudinal dispersion coefficient. The accuracy of the model is validated against analytical, numerical, and experimental data available in the literature. The validated model is then used to simulate both unsteady- and steady-state flow and transport directly in representative elementary volume (REV) size microtomography images of naturally-occurring porous systems.

The need for better experimental measurements in order to improve the predictive capabilities of the aforementioned models will be discussed next. A state-of-the-art three-phase flow laboratory, established from scratch at the University of Wyoming, will be presented. The facility can be used to study a wide range of two- and three-phase flow experiments at reservoir conditions using a medical CT scanner to measure in-situ fluid saturations. The experiments may be carried out using vertically-placed core samples as the scanner can be rotated to the horizontal orientation. An extensive experimental program designed to complement the modeling effort will be discussed. Recently generated experimental data on the permanent trapping of supercritical CO2, relevant to CO2 sequestration in deep saline aquifers, and results related to a novel EOR technique will be presented.



Biography: Dr. Mohammad Piri is an Assistant Professor of Petroleum Engineering at the University of Wyoming (UW). He received his PhD in Petroleum Engineering at Imperial College London in 2004. Before joining the faculty at UW, he worked as a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Princeton University. His research interests include pore-level physics of multiphase flow and transport in disordered porous media with applications in energy and the environment as well as measurement and prediction of macroscopic properties in multiphase flow systems. In particular, he works on three-phase flow systems with applications to oil and gas recovery, CO2 sequestration and leakage, effects of saturation history, trapping, and wettability on three-phase relative permeability, and direct pore-level modeling of flow in microtomography images. He currently leads a research group with seven graduate students and one postdoctoral research associate and is the Associate Director of the Center for Fundamentals of Subsurface Flow of the School of Energy Resources at UW.

Host: Mork Family Department

Location: Hedco Pertroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) -

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Takimoto Idania