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Qualification of New Methods for Measuring In Situ Rheology of Non-Newtonian Fluids in Porous Media

Pressure drop (ΔP) versus volumetric injection rate (Q) data from linear core floods have typically been used to measure in situ rheology of non-Newtonian fluids in porous media. However, linear flow is characterized by steady-state conditions, in contrast to radial flow where both pressure and shea...

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Autores principales: Jacobsen, Jørgen Gausdal, Shiran, Behruz Shaker, Skauge, Tormod, Sorbie, Kenneth Stuart, Skauge, Arne
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7077697/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32075148
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym12020452
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author Jacobsen, Jørgen Gausdal
Shiran, Behruz Shaker
Skauge, Tormod
Sorbie, Kenneth Stuart
Skauge, Arne
author_facet Jacobsen, Jørgen Gausdal
Shiran, Behruz Shaker
Skauge, Tormod
Sorbie, Kenneth Stuart
Skauge, Arne
author_sort Jacobsen, Jørgen Gausdal
collection PubMed
description Pressure drop (ΔP) versus volumetric injection rate (Q) data from linear core floods have typically been used to measure in situ rheology of non-Newtonian fluids in porous media. However, linear flow is characterized by steady-state conditions, in contrast to radial flow where both pressure and shear-forces have non-linear gradients. In this paper, we qualify recently developed methods for measuring in situ rheology in radial flow experiments, and then quantitatively investigate the robustness of these methods against pressure measurement error. Application of the new methods to experimental data also enabled accurate investigation of memory and rate effects during polymer flow through porous media. A radial polymer flow experiment using partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) was performed on a Bentheimer sandstone disc where pressure ports distributed between a central injector and the perimeter production line enabled a detailed analysis of pressure variation with radial distance. It has been suggested that the observed shear-thinning behavior of HPAM solutions at low flux in porous media could be an experimental artifact due to the use of insufficiently accurate pressure transducers. Consequently, a generic simulation study was conducted where the level of pressure measurement error on in situ polymer rheology was quantitatively investigated. Results clearly demonstrate the robustness of the history match methods to pressure measurement error typical for radial flow experiments, where negligible deviations from the reference rheology was observed. It was not until the error level was increased to five-fold of typical conditions that significant deviation from the reference rheology emerged. Based on results from pore network modelling, Chauveteau (1981) demonstrated that polymer flow in porous media may at some rate be influenced by the prior history. In this paper, polymer memory effects could be evaluated at the Darcy scale by history matching the pressure drop between individual pressure ports and the producer as a function of injection rate (conventional method). Since the number of successive contraction events increases with radial distance, the polymer has a different pre-history at the various pressure ports. Rheology curves obtained from history matching the radial flow experiment were overlapping, which shows that there is no influence of geometry on in-situ rheology for the particular HPAM polymer investigated. In addition, the onset of shear-thickening was independent of volumetric injection rate in radial flow.
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spelling pubmed-70776972020-03-20 Qualification of New Methods for Measuring In Situ Rheology of Non-Newtonian Fluids in Porous Media Jacobsen, Jørgen Gausdal Shiran, Behruz Shaker Skauge, Tormod Sorbie, Kenneth Stuart Skauge, Arne Polymers (Basel) Article Pressure drop (ΔP) versus volumetric injection rate (Q) data from linear core floods have typically been used to measure in situ rheology of non-Newtonian fluids in porous media. However, linear flow is characterized by steady-state conditions, in contrast to radial flow where both pressure and shear-forces have non-linear gradients. In this paper, we qualify recently developed methods for measuring in situ rheology in radial flow experiments, and then quantitatively investigate the robustness of these methods against pressure measurement error. Application of the new methods to experimental data also enabled accurate investigation of memory and rate effects during polymer flow through porous media. A radial polymer flow experiment using partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) was performed on a Bentheimer sandstone disc where pressure ports distributed between a central injector and the perimeter production line enabled a detailed analysis of pressure variation with radial distance. It has been suggested that the observed shear-thinning behavior of HPAM solutions at low flux in porous media could be an experimental artifact due to the use of insufficiently accurate pressure transducers. Consequently, a generic simulation study was conducted where the level of pressure measurement error on in situ polymer rheology was quantitatively investigated. Results clearly demonstrate the robustness of the history match methods to pressure measurement error typical for radial flow experiments, where negligible deviations from the reference rheology was observed. It was not until the error level was increased to five-fold of typical conditions that significant deviation from the reference rheology emerged. Based on results from pore network modelling, Chauveteau (1981) demonstrated that polymer flow in porous media may at some rate be influenced by the prior history. In this paper, polymer memory effects could be evaluated at the Darcy scale by history matching the pressure drop between individual pressure ports and the producer as a function of injection rate (conventional method). Since the number of successive contraction events increases with radial distance, the polymer has a different pre-history at the various pressure ports. Rheology curves obtained from history matching the radial flow experiment were overlapping, which shows that there is no influence of geometry on in-situ rheology for the particular HPAM polymer investigated. In addition, the onset of shear-thickening was independent of volumetric injection rate in radial flow. MDPI 2020-02-14 /pmc/articles/PMC7077697/ /pubmed/32075148 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym12020452 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Jacobsen, Jørgen Gausdal
Shiran, Behruz Shaker
Skauge, Tormod
Sorbie, Kenneth Stuart
Skauge, Arne
Qualification of New Methods for Measuring In Situ Rheology of Non-Newtonian Fluids in Porous Media
title Qualification of New Methods for Measuring In Situ Rheology of Non-Newtonian Fluids in Porous Media
title_full Qualification of New Methods for Measuring In Situ Rheology of Non-Newtonian Fluids in Porous Media
title_fullStr Qualification of New Methods for Measuring In Situ Rheology of Non-Newtonian Fluids in Porous Media
title_full_unstemmed Qualification of New Methods for Measuring In Situ Rheology of Non-Newtonian Fluids in Porous Media
title_short Qualification of New Methods for Measuring In Situ Rheology of Non-Newtonian Fluids in Porous Media
title_sort qualification of new methods for measuring in situ rheology of non-newtonian fluids in porous media
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7077697/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32075148
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym12020452
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