MULTIPHASE FLOW IN

POROUS ROCK
 Introduction to

Effective Permeability
and
Relative Permeability
Review: Absolute Permeability
• Absolute permeability: is the permeability of a
porous medium saturated with a single fluid
(e.g. Sw=1)

• Absolute permeability can be calculated from

the steady-state flow equation (1D, Linear Flow;
Darcy Units):
k A p
q
L
 Multiphase Flow in Reservoirs

Commonly, reservoirs contain 2 or 3 fluids

• Water-oil systems
• Oil-gas systems
• Water-gas systems
• Three phase systems (water, oil, and gas)
To evaluate multiphase systems, must consider
the effective and relative permeability
 Effective Permeability
Effective permeability: is a measure of
the conductance of a porous medium
for one fluid phase when the medium is
saturated with more than one fluid.
• The porous medium can have a distinct and
measurable conductance to each phase present in
the medium

• Effective permeabilities: (ko, kg, kw)

Amyx, Bass, and Whiting, 1960; PETE 311 Notes

 Effective Permeability
Steady state, 1D, linear flow
ko A  o equation (Darcy units):
• Oil qo 
o L qn = volumetric flow rate for a
specific phase, n
k w A  w
• Water qw  A = flow area
w L n = flow potential drop for
phase, n (including pressure,
gravity and capillary pressure
k g A  g terms)
• Gas qg 
g L n = fluid viscosity for phase n

L = flow length

Modified from NExT, 1999; Amyx, Bass, and Whiting, 1960; PETE 311 NOTES
 Relative Permeability
Relative Permeability is the ratio of the effective permeability of
a fluid at a given saturation to some base permeability
• Base permeability is typically defined as:
– absolute permeability, k

– air permeability, kair

– effective permeability to non-wetting phase at irreducible wetting phase

saturation [e.g. ko(Sw=Swi)]

– because definition of base permeability varies, the definition used must

always be:
• confirmed before applying relative permeability data

• noted along with tables and figures presenting relative permeability data

Amyx, Bass, and Whiting, 1960

Definition
 Relative Permeability
ko ( 0.5, 0.3)
• Oil k ro ( 0.5, 0.3) 
k So =0.5
Sw =0.3
k w( 0.5, 0.3) Sg = 0.2
• Water k rw( 0.5, 0.3) 
k

k g ( 0.5, 0.3)
• Gas k rg ( 0.5, 0.3) 
k
Modified from Amyx, Bass, and Whiting, 1960
 Relative Permeability Functions
Imbibition Relative Permeability
1.00 kro @ Swi • Wettability and direction of saturation change
Relative Permeability (fraction)

must be considered
•drainage
•imbibition
0.80

Residual Oil
• Base used to normalize this

Saturation
relative permeability curve is
Two-Phase Flow kro @ Swi
0.60 Region
• As Sw increases, kro decreases
and krw increases until
Irreducible

Saturation

reaching residual oil

Oil
Water

saturation
0.40

0.20
krw @ Sor
Water
0
0 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00
Modified from NExT, 1999
Water Saturation (fraction)
 Effect of Wettability
for Increasing Sw
1.0 1.0
Relative Permeability, Fraction

Relative Permeability, Fraction

0.8 0.8

0.6 0.6

Oil Oil Water

0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2
Water
0 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
Water Saturation (% PV) Water Saturation (% PV)

Strongly Water-Wet Rock Strongly Oil-Wet Rock

Modified from NExT, 1999 • Water flows more freely

• Higher residual oil saturation
Factors Affecting Relative Permeabilities

• Fluid saturations
• Geometry of the pore spaces and pore
size distribution
• Wettability
• Fluid saturation history (i.e., imbibition
or drainage)

After Standing, 1975

 Characteristics of Relative
Permeability Functions
• Relative permeability is unique for
different rocks and fluids
• Relative permeability affects the flow
characteristics of reservoir fluids.
• Relative permeability affects the
recovery efficiency of oil and/or gas.

Modified from NExT, 1999

 Applications of
Relative Permeability Functions

• Reservoir simulation
• Flow calculations that involve
multi-phase flow in reservoirs
• Estimation of residual oil (and/or
gas) saturation
• Effective and relative permeability data are
used in almost all reservoir engineering
calculations that involve movements of several
fluids together.
• Relative permeability data is an important input
to reservoir simulation models. Reservoir
simulation is used to study the reservoir
behavior under a variety of conditions. Among
the many uses of reservoir simulation models
are:
• -
• Prediction of reservoir performance
• - Development planning
• - Alternative production plans
evaluation (water injection,
gas injection, EOR… etc)
• - Alternative well configurations
(fractured wells, horizontal wells … etc)
• Relative permeability is also an input to
simple models that calculate flow of more
than one fluid (e.g. water flooding models).

• Relative permeability can also be used to

estimate residual hydrocarbon saturation.
 Gas-Oil Relative Permeability Curves
• In this case, the
wetting phase, the
oil phase, impedes
the flow of gas.
• The water
saturation in the
reservoir rock is
taken to not
exceed its
irreducible value.
• This means that
the water is not
mobile but exists
in the pore space
and simply
reduces the
available pore
space that the gas
and oil can
occupy.
• Sgc is the critical gas saturation. This is the
minimum saturation for gas to become mobile.
• Sorg is the residual oil saturation to gas. This is
the immobile oil when gas is the displacing fluid.
• krogc is the relative permeability of oil at the
critical gas saturation.
• krgc is the relative permeability of the gas at the
residual oil saturation.
 Introduction to

Three Phase
Relative Permeability
 Ternary Diagrams
• Because So+Sw+Sg=1, we can use a ternary
diagram to represent three phase saturations,
and plot values of relative permeability as the
independent variable.
– Two of the three saturations are
independent
• We can plot in 2-D space using two
independent (not same direction)
coordinates
 Ternary Diagrams

0
1. 0
• Plot Point for:
Sw=0.30
So=0.25
Sg=0.45

g
S
0
0.0

0.00 So 1.00
 Three Phase Relative Permeability
• Saturation plotted on
ternary diagram
• Lines show constant krw
– parallel to water
saturation lines
• krw is function only
of water saturation
• for water wet, water
is in smallest pores
 Three Phase Relative Permeability
• Saturation plotted on
ternary diagram
• Lines show constant krg
– approximately parallel
to gas saturation lines
• krg is primarily a
function of gas
saturation
• gas is in largest
pores
 Three Phase Relative Permeability
• Saturation plotted on ternary
diagram
• Lines show constant kro
– not parallel to any
saturation lines
• kro is function of both
water and gas
saturation
• pore size distribution
– water: smallest
– gas: largest
– oil: intermediate size
pores
 Three Phase Relative Permeability
• Lines show constant kro
– not parallel to any
saturation lines
• At low gas
saturation, kro is a
primarily function of
oil saturation
• At low water
saturation, kro is
primarily a function
of gas saturation
 Three Phase Relative Permeability
• Three phase flow occurs over a limited range of three phase
saturations
– outside this range, two phase or single phase flow occurs
 Application of
Three Phase Relative Permeability
• Three phase relative permeability data is needed whenever we wish to consider reservoir flow with all
three phases present
– Three phase lab data is expensive and time consuming
– Two phase data is much more common
– Many methods have been developed to calculate three phase relative permeability from two phase
curves (water/oil curve and oil/gas curve)
 Modeling of
Three Phase Relative Permeability
• Stones Method II
– An accepted industry standard
– krg obtained from gas/oil two phase curve as function of Sg
– krw obtained from oil/water two phase curve as function of Sw
– kro for three phase flow obtained from both two phase curves as function of Sg and Sw

– krow, kro from oil/water

– krwo, krw from oil/water
– krog, kro from gas/oil
– krgo, krg from gas/oil

k ro   k row  k rwo   k rog  k rgo   k rwo  k rgo

MEASUREMENT OF RELATIVE
PERMEABILITY
• Laboratory - steady-state flow process
• Laboratory - displacement (unsteady-
state process)
• Calculation from capillary pressure
data (FURTHER READING)
• Calculation from field performance data
• Empirical correlations
Laboratory Measurement
of
Relative Permeability
• Laboratory measurements are made by
displacing one phase with another
(unsteady state tests) or simultaneous flow
of two phases (steady state tests).

• The effective permeabilities thus measured

over a range of fluid saturations enable
relative permeability curves to be
constructed.
Common Laboratory Rel-Perm
Tests
 Rel. Perm. - Steady State
• Process (oil/water, water wet case):
– simultaneously inject constant rates of oil and
water until steady state behavior is observed
• production will be constant at same oil and
water rates as injection
• pressure drop for each phase will be constant
– determine saturation of core sample
• usually by resistivity or weighing or sensing
methods
• this is typically not the same as the injection
ratio
– change injection ratio and repeat
Steady state water flood procedure
 Rel. Perm. - Steady State
• Imbibition Relative Permeability
Functions
– Stage 1: Preparation for
drainage
• core saturated with wetting
phase
• steady state injection of
wetting phase used to
determine absolute
permeability
– Stage 2: Irreducible wetting
phase
• inject non-wetting phase
until steady state, measure
saturation
– no wetting phase will
be produced at steady
state
 Rel. Perm. - Steady State
• Imbibition Relative Permeability
Functions (continued)
– Stage 3 (A-C): determination of
points on imbibition relative
permeability function
• steady state injection at
constant rates of wetting
and non-wetting phase
– Initially ratio qw/qnw is
small
• measure saturation and
phase pressure drops at
steady state
– saturation ratio will in
general, not be the
same as injection ratio
• repeat with increasing ratio,
qw/qnw
 Rel. Perm. - Steady State
• Imbibition Relative Permeability
Functions (continued)
– Stage 4: determination of
residual non-wetting phase
saturation
• inject wetting phase until
steady state behavior
observed
• measure saturation and
wetting phase pressure
drop
Typical Rel-Perm. curve from a
steady state water flood
 STEADY-STATE RELATIVE
PERMEABILITY TEST EQUIPMENT
(HASSLER METHOD)
Gas Gas
outlet inlet
Po
Pg Pc

Core

Oil inlet
To Porcelain
atmosphere plate

Oil burette
 PENN STATE METHOD FOR
MEASURING STEADY-STATE RELATIVE
PERMEABILITY
Packing Copper Inlet
Thermometer nut Electrodes orifice
plate

xxxx
xxxx
End Test Mixing xxxx
xxxx
section section section xxxx
xxxx

Differential
pressure taps
Outlet Bronze Highly permeable Inlet
screen disk
HAFFORD’S METHOD FOR MEASURING
STEADY-STATE RELATIVE
PERMEABILITY
Gas

Gas
pressure
Porous end plate gauge

Oil
pressure

Oil pressure pad

Gas meter Oil

Oil burette
 DISPERSED FEED METHOD FOR
MEASURING STEADY-STATE RELATIVE
PERMEABILITY
Gas meter Gas-pressure
gauge Gas
Lucite

Core
material

Dispersing
Lucite-mounted section
core
Oil
Oil burette
Dispersing
section face
 Rel. Perm. - Steady State
• Purpose: determination of
– two phase relative permeability functions
– irreducible wetting phase saturation (drainage)
– residual non-wetting phase saturation (imbibition)
 Rel. perm-Steady-state
1. Saturate core with wetting-phase fluid
2. Inject wetting-phase fluid through core (this will
determine absolute permeability)
3. inject a mix of wetting-phase and non-wetting
phase (start with small fraction of non-wetting
phase)
4. when inflow and outflow rates and portion of non-
wetting phase equalize, record inlet pressure,
outlet pressure and flow rates of each phase
5. measure fluid saturation in core (already
discussed )
6. calculate relative permeability
• Repeat steps 2 through 6 with injection
mixtures containing relatively more non-
wetting phase until irreducible wetting
phase saturation is reached
 Rel. Perm. - Unsteady State
• Unsteady State Method for relative permeability
provides
– Relative permeability ratio (kr,nonwet/kr,wet) as a function
of wetting phase saturation (Swet)
– Irreducible wetting phase saturation (drainage)
– Residual nonwetting phase saturation (imbibition)
 EXAMPLE
• A relative permeability apparatus was used in a steady-state
flow process to obtain the data given below at a temperature of
70oF.
Unsteady state water flood procedure
 Rel. Perm. - Unsteady State
Saturation in Production
• Imbibition Relative Permeability Core Plug Rates
Ratio Function
– Stage 1: Preparation for
drainage
• core saturated with
wetting phase
– Stage 2: Irreducible wetting
phase (drainage)
• inject non-wetting phase
until steady state,
measure saturation
– no wetting phase will
be produced after
steady state
 Rel. Perm. - Unsteady State
Saturation in Production
• Imbibition Relative Permeability Core Plug Rates
Ratio Function
– Stages 3-6: Inject wetting
phase
• Stage 3 (A) Wetting
phase has not yet
reached outflow face
– only nonwetting
phase produced at
outflow face
• Stage 4 (B) Wetting
phase just reaches
outflow face, called
breakthrough
– wetting phase will be
produced at outflow
face
 Rel. Perm. - Unsteady State
Saturation in Production
• Imbibition Relative Permeability Core Plug Rates
Ratio Function
– Stages 3-6: Inject wetting
phase
• Stage 5 (C) As injection
of wetting phase
continues, production of
nonwetting phase
decreases (unsteady
state)
– Important to take
many data points
during this decrease
» cummulative
nonwetting phase
produced
» production rate
for both phases
 Rel. Perm. - Unsteady State
Saturation in Production
• Imbibition Relative Permeability Core Plug Rates
Ratio Function
– Stages 3-6: Inject wetting
phase

• Stage 6 (D) Eventually,

no more nonwetting
phase is produced,
allowing residual
nonwetting phase
saturation to be
determined
 Rel. Perm. - Unsteady State
• Analysis Procedure
– Assumptions
• immiscible displacement
• incompressible fluids
• linear, 1-D flow
• capillary pressure neglected
– Determination of average saturation
• cumulative nonwetting phase production
– Determination of relative permeability ratio from fractional flow
• fwet = qwet/qtotal ; where qtotal = qwet + qnonwet
• production rate measured at outflow face
 Rel. Perm. - Unsteady State
• Analysis Procedure
– Assumptions
• immiscible displacement
• incompressible fluids
• linear, 1-D flow
• capillary pressure neglected
– Determination of average saturation
• cumulative nonwetting phase production
– Determination of relative permeability ratio from fractional flow
• fwet = qwet/qtotal ; where qtotal = qwet + qnonwet
• production rate measured at outflow face
1
f wet 
 k r ,nonwet  wet 
1    

k
 r , wet  nonwet 
 Rel. Perm. - Unsteady State
• Relative Permeability Ratio
usually plotted semi-log
– hysteresis due to saturation
process (drainage,
imbibition)
Unsteady state method ( gas- oil)
• Mount core in holder saturate with wetting
phase (usually oil)
• inject non-wetting phase (usually gas) at
constant inlet and outlet pressures
Measure
• Cumulative gas injected as a function of time
• Cumulative oil produced as a function of time
Conditions for unsteady state
• Pressure drop across core high enough to make
end effects negligible, but not enough to cause
turbulent (non-Darcy) flow.
• Gas saturation can be described at mean pressure

• Flow is horizontal and core is short so that effects

of
• gravity can be neglected
 Calculations
• 1) convert gas injected into pore volumes
2). Calculate average gas saturation, Sgav
 Calculations
• 3) Plot Sgav vs Gipv
• 4) determine fractional flow of oil, fo
• 5.) Calculate permeability ratio, kg/ko
• 6) Permeability ratio, kg/ko, calculated
above applies only at the gas saturation of
the outflow face, thus must calculate Sgo
Advantages and disadvantages of
Advantages unsteady
•minimum amount of equipment
•Rapid
Disadvantages
•results in kg/ko, not kro and krg
•equations don't apply until gas breaks through, thus
•initial value of gas saturation may be high, resulting
•in incomplete kg/ko vs Sgo curve.
 Example
• The data from an unsteady-state displacement
of oil by gas in a 2 inch diameter by 5 5/8 inch
long sandstone core are given below.
Solution
Results
 Applications of Rel. perm
• DISPLACEMENT EFFICIENCY