Model study on the irreducible water saturation by centrifuge experiments

The objective of this paper is aimed at investigating experimentally the irreducible water saturation and the dynamic behavior of the thickness of the adsorbed water layer (AWL) with a change of the driving pressure gradient. The thickness of AWL on micro glass beads is measured and calculated by means of a centrifugal method and a gravimetric analysis. The factors that influenced the thickness of AWL are investigated as well. The results disclose that the thickness of AWL is not a constant, but a function of the driving pressure gradient. Academic calculation and micro-tube experiment have been performed to study the effect of AWL on percolation behavior at lower Reynolds number (Re). The experimental result demonstrates that AWL plays a key role in the percolation of water in reservoir, especially in an extremely low permeability reservoir.