Two-phase flow in a single fracture

Fracture dominated two-phase flow is important not only for naturally fractured petroleum reservoirs but also for underground disposal of radioactive waste, geothermal hydrotransport, as well as underground water and aquifer flow. In contrast with gas-liquid flow in a single fracture, the flow of heavy oil and water received rather less attention. In this research an experimental apparatus was built to study the flow of water in the presence of heavy oil in a smooth-walled fracture and display the different flow patterns under different flow and fracture orientations. The motion and shape of a liquid drop flowing within a continuous, conveying liquid phase in a horizontal and vertical Hele-Shaw cell was investigated experimentally. As a result of this study, new correlations derived from dimensionless analysis and fitted to the experimental data were generated to predict the elongated drop velocity and aspect ratio. In addition, continuous phase flow were analytically modeled and experimentally investigated. The experiments include different fracture and flow orientations. The results were compared with available relative permeability models such as the viscous coupling model, the X curve model, the Corey model as well as models which have been introduced for segregated and lubricated flow conditions. The comparison leads to the conclusion that there is high interference between the phases flowing through the fracture. In contrast with some other studies, results reveal that different phases can flow in both continuous and discontinuous forms. Also studying the flow of oil and water under different fracture orientation shows that the oil-water relative permeability is not only a function of the fluid saturations and flow patterns but also the flow and fracture orientations.