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A new displacement experiment technique to measure unsteady state two‐phase relative permeability‐saturation‐capillary head relationships
Author(s) -
Clayton Wilson S.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/1999wr900203
Subject(s) - relative permeability , saturation (graph theory) , mechanics , capillary action , capillary pressure , fluid dynamics , multiphase flow , displacement (psychology) , permeability (electromagnetism) , two phase flow , capillary number , materials science , porous medium , thermodynamics , porosity , flow (mathematics) , mathematics , chemistry , physics , composite material , psychology , biochemistry , combinatorics , membrane , psychotherapist
A new unsteady state laboratory displacement experiment has been developed to measure two‐phase relative permeability, fluid saturation, and capillary head ( k r ‐ S ‐ h c ) relationships under moderate to low displacement rates and fluid pressures. The new technique maintains approximately uniform fluid saturation along the length of a core sample through the innovative use of a porous top disc to control internal pressure of the displacing fluid. Internal fluid pressure heads are measured in both phases at each end of the core, and permeabilities are calculated directly from Darcy's law. This approach avoids the bias inherent in other techniques that rely on assumptions related to inverse solution of unsteady state flow equations or a priori parameterization of k r ‐ S ‐ h c relationships.