Claudio Jose Alves Furtado

Particle Detachment Under Velocity Alternation During Suspension Transport in Porous Media

Flow of suspensions in porous media with particle capture and detachment under alternate flow rates is discussed. The mathematical model contains the maximum retention concentration function of flow velocity that governs the particle release and is used instead of equation for particle detachment kinetics from the classical filtration model. An analytical model for suspension injection with alternate rates was derived, and a coreflood by suspension with alternate rates was carried out. The modelling and laboratory data are in a good agreement, which validates the modified particle detachment model with the maximum retention function.

Formation-Damage Evaluation From Nonlinear Skin Growth During Coreflooding

Injectivity decline of oilfield injection wells is a widespread phenomenon during seawater/produced-water injection. The decline may result in significant cost increase of the waterflooding project. Reliable modeling-based prediction of injectivity-index decrease is important for waterflood design as well as for the planning of preventive injected-water treatment. One of the reasons for well injectivity decline is permeability decrease caused by rock plugging by solid/liquid particles suspended in the injected water. The mathematical model for deep-bed filtration contains two empirical functions: the filtration coefficient and the formationdamage coefficient. These empirical coefficients must be determined from laboratory coreflood tests by forcing water with particles to flow through the core samples. A routine laboratory method determines the filtration coefficient from expensive and difficult particle-concentration measurements at the core effluent; then, the formation-damage coefficient is determined from inexpensive and simple pressure-drop measurements. An alternative three-point-pressure method uses pressure data at an intermediate point of the core, supplementing pressure measurements at the core inlet and outlet. The method provides unique and stable values for constant-filtration and formation-damage coefficients. In the current work, we consider a more complex case in which both coefficients are linear functions of retained-particle concentration. In this case, the model is fully determined by four constants. The three-point-pressure method furnishes unique values for the four model parameters. A new semianalytical model for axisymmetric suspension filtration was developed to predict well-injectivity decline from the linear coreflood data with pressure measurements in three core points.