Characterisation of three-phase fluid distributions in a porous rock using micro computed tomography

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Copyright: Feali, Mostafa
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Abstract
Understanding the physics of three-phase (gas, oil and water) displacements in porous rocks is crucial for predicting petroleum recovery and the migration of non-aqueous phase liquids contaminated in soils. Topological properties of porous rocks and interactions of fluids within these rocks control how three fluid phases flow together in pore space. The effort made in the 1990s using 2D glass micro models of simplistic porous system helped significantly understand the physics and mechanisms of three-phase fluid interactions in porous media. However, no study has been reported so far to examine the effect of the three-dimensional topological properties of a porous rock on characteristics of three-phase fluids. This thesis presents a study that combines the 3D imaging and 3D computational analysis to characterise qualitatively and quantitatively the three-phase fluids (oil, water and gas) at different spreading conditions in a porous rock. It attempts to answer whether or not the intermediate oil phase in a gas-oil-water system is spatially connected within an actual porous rock through oil films. An innovative experimental approach was used to visualise 3D distributions of three-phase (gas, oil and water) using a high resolution micro-CT. A methodology used to align and subtract two sets of tomograms of the same rock being dry and partially saturated is presented. This methodology allows extracting and delineating 3D information of oil, water and gas in a porous rock which provides a qualitative description of the configurations and distributions of three phases regardless of the uncertainty associated to pores topology. A sophisticated segmentation algorithm was used to perform a quantitative analysis of the gas-oil-water distributions obtained from the micro-CT images. The spatial connectivity of each of the phases at the end of the tertiary gas flooding was analysed and discussed using quantitative measures obtained from the Euler characteristics method. This study provides a confirmation of the presence and continuity of oil spreading films for positive spreading systems in real porous media and the absence of spreading films for negative spreading systems.
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Author(s)
Feali, Mostafa
Supervisor(s)
Cinar, Yildiray
Pinczewski, val
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Publication Year
2013
Resource Type
Thesis
Degree Type
PhD Doctorate
UNSW Faculty
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