Investigation of spontaneous imbibition behavior in a 3D pore space
under reservoir condition by lattice Boltzmann method
Abstract
Spontaneous imbibition of the injected fluid into the pore space of a
tight oil reservoir and replacing the crude oil therein has been
considered as one of the possible mechanisms in increasing oil recovery.
Such deeply buried reservoir rocks is usually under high-pressure and
high-temperature conditions. Besides, their interior complex porous
structures are usually characterized as pore bodies and slit-shaped pore
throats. As a result, an accurate description of the spontaneous
imbibition behavior driven by capillary force in the real pore space
under reservoir conditions is crucial to understand the process and
uncover the controlling mechanisms. An improved multi-component
pseudo-potential lattice Boltzmann method was developed to simulate the
spontaneous imbibition behavior in a representative 3D pore space
extracted from a tight sandstone reservoir rock. Comparison of the
spontaneous imbibition behavior under ambient condition and reservoir
condition showed that the latter case exhibited two times faster of the
imbibition. Moreover, a snap-off of the oil droplet phenomenon was
observed in the pore bodies surrounded by slit-shaped pore throats. The
snap-off oil droplets stuck in the pore bodies and accounted for 9.47 %
of the pore volume. These results indicated the importance of
investigating the spontaneous imbibition in a real porous structure and
under actual reservoir condition. The proposed pore-scale simulation
method provides a useful tool in understanding the complex spontaneous
imbibition pattern and the resulted enhanced oil recovery.