Relative Permeability

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• Relative Permeability

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Objectives

• Develop a pressure and temperature-controlled
  flow-through system with confining pressure
• Measure gas permeability with and without hydrate
• Monitor water saturation changes during water
  flood tests to delineate water front advance with
  CT
• Estimate the relative permeability using inverse
  modeling

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Test vessel

• Triaxial confining stress
• Flow-through cell
• Temperature controlled

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Experiment steps

• Pack the sample and measure gas permeability
• Convert sample water into hydrate
• Measure the gas permeability of the
  hydrate-bearing system
• Perform a water flood and monitor saturation
  changes at specific locations
• Dissociate the hydrate
• Measure single-phase permeability of the sand
• Invert data to estimate relative permeability

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Test Conditions
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Test Conditions
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Permeabilities
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Test 1 Flow
Location 460
Location 435
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Test 3 Flow
Location 510
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Calibrated relative permeability and capillary
pressure
Preliminary
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Recommendations/Lessons Learned

• Measure the residual saturation in water/sand and
  water/hydrate/sand systems
• Estimate the relative permeability parameters for
  water/sand system (without hydrate) using CT and
  the inversion simulation technique
• Estimate/measure the capillary pressure
  independently for water/sand and
  water/hydrate/sand system
• Refine the current experimental setup to reduce
  uncertainties in liquid injection and mass
  balance