Influence of Thin Film Drainage between Oil Slugs and Capillary Wall on Initial Differential Pressure
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Abstract
Experimental results are discussed in this conference on oil slugs trapped in a capillary tube. Such an experimental set-up is employed as a simplified model to simulate residual oil trapped in porous structures of reservoirs. Differential pressures across the oil slug are measured under different hours of drainage time. Same experiments have been repeated on air slugs and similar results have been obtained. It is observed that under the same drainage time, the greater the lengths of the oil/air slugs are, the lower the values of the differential pressures are recorded. It is hypothesized that the mechanism behind this phenomenon is the drainage and devlopment of a water film in between the oil/air slug and the wall of the capillary. The thickness of the water film significantly affects mobilization of the oil/air slugs trapped in the capillaries. Further research work is being conducted to verify this hypothesis experimentally and numerically. This work investigates the relationship between the drainage of the water film and mobilization of oil/air slugs trapped in a capillary.