1. Aleksander Borczyk
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ABSTRACT
Lower commodity prices energy market create pressure for companies to
search for improvements in recovery methods for better cost effectiveness. The aim of
this experimental study of multiphase flows through porous media is to re-investigate
fundamental concepts governing the field of reservoir engineering and verify accuracy of
.
The study is conducted on an experimental apparatus designed and built upon the setup
used by Henry Darcy in the procedure from 1856. Reproducing the initial settings of the
experiment was carried out with the aim to verify the quality and reliability of the
nineteenth century apparatus.
Through experimental analysis a number of parameters of the flow and the porous
medium were investigated. The value of intrinsic permeability, hydraulic conductivity and
wettability of the medium as well as viscosity of mineral oil were all estimated using
single phase flow procedure.
The observation of multiphase flow through porous medium has led to obtaining values
of effective permeability and allowed for capillary pressure phenomena observations.
Additionally, the irreducible water saturation of the sample was measured and graphs
illustrating the drainage procedure were produced. The analysis successfully validated
the accuracy of models describing dynamics of two phase flows through porous media
for oil recovery applications.