Investigation of effect of pore sizes and pore sorting on two phase relative permeability in imbibition process

•Oil and water relative permeability diagrams are dependent on pore sizes distribution and pore direction in studied glass micro model.•As porous media pore sizes grows, the amount of primary water relative permeability will be increased and the range of changing saturation rises in them.•As porous media pore sizes decrease, irreducible oil saturation increase and its relative permeability decrease.•Oil and water relative permeability diagrams dependency on heterogeneity is caused by capillary forces.

Relative permeability is one of the main petroleum recovery controller that is a function of porous media and the reservoir fluid. Water flooding titled as one of the eldest EOR methods is still used in some of reservoirs. For proper perception and description of rheology in reservoir scale, knowing the flowing fluid processes specifications and mechanisms and also recognition of porous media type in pore-scale is necessary. In this way, the new age has arrived in reservoir study by introducing porosity model on glass. We can have the two-dimension porous media in actual size by designing a microfluidic chip. This article implies the effects of heterogeneity on relative permeability curves by micro model system and water flooding. High definition photos from different water and oil saturations and also Goodyear equations are used for analyzing the effects of heterogeneity on water and oil permeability in pore-scale. In conclusion, it is observed that in glass micro model oil and water relative permeability curves are dependent on porous media pores sizes. So that as much as these pores grows, the relative permeability will be increased. Moreover, pores sizes distribution and direction have effects on relative permeability.

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