Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 31, 2025

Microfluidic Devices for Characterizing Pore-scale Event Processes in Porous Media for Oil Recovery Applications
Published on: January 16, 2018
Experimental Investigation of Factors Influencing Remaining Oil Distribution under Water Flooding in a 2-D Visualized
1School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, China.
Abstract:
About 70% of the remaining oil remains underground after water flooding, and there is a need to better understand the formation and distribution of this remaining macroscopic oil to enhance oil recovery. In this study, three types of visual plate models were devised with different packing sequences: homogeneous (J), high-permeability layer on top (F), and low-permeability layer on top (Z). Based on these models, several visual flooding experiments were conducted to study the water flooding physics and the remaining oil distribution pattern of an offshore thick heavy oil reservoir under the impact of formation heterogeneity, packing sequence, model length, and permeability contrast during water flooding. These displacements were monitored photographically, and the effluent production profiles were recorded. The results showed that layer permeability and gravitational segregation play an important role during the water flooding process in layered porous media. Experimental results based on the model with different lengths show that the breakthrough oil recovery decreases with the increase of well spacing. Finally, a correction was made to the gravity number by introducing a scaling factor that characterized the formation heterogeneity and packing sequence in thick formation, compared to a known gravity number; the modified gravity number showed a better correlation with breakthrough oil recovery of water and polymer flooding. The research results provide effective guidance for the remaining oil distribution and injection and production parameter optimization in actual reservoirs.
More Related Videos
12:18Pore-scale Imaging and Characterization of Hydrocarbon Reservoir Rock Wettability at Subsurface Conditions Using X-ray Microtomography
Published on: October 21, 2018
09:58Investigating the Three-dimensional Flow Separation Induced by a Model Vocal Fold Polyp
Published on: February 3, 2014
Related Concept Videos
Typical Model Studies
Design Example: Flow of Oil Through Circular Pipes
Buoyancy and Stability for Submerged and Floating Bodies
Uniform Depth Channel Flow: Problem Solving
Design Example: Creating a Hydraulic Model of a Dam Spillway
Density and Archimedes' Principle