Frontal

Stability
Prepared by:
Bryan Y.

A front is stable if it retains the shape of the

interface between displaced and displacing
fluids as the front moves through the porous
medium.
Why is it important?
The frontal stability can influence the
displacement efficiency of a flood (i.e. Water,
Miscible CO2, Surfactant, Polymer, etc).
We define displacement efficiency as the
fraction of oil that has been recovered
from a zone swept by awaterflood or other
displacement process.

Microscopic
displacement

Macroscopic
displacement

Areal
Sweep

Vertical
Sweep

 Oil viscosity is the fluid property with

the most influence on sweep
efficiency.
Viscosity controls mobility ratio (M),
which is defined as the mobility of
the displacing phase divided by that
of the displaced phase.
Since,

Thus,

Conformance
It is a measure of the uniformity
of the flood front of the injected
drive fluid during an oil recovery
flooding operation and the
uniformity vertically and areally
of the flood front as it is being
propagated through an oil reservoir
(Petrowiki).

Typical Conformance Problems

1. Viscous fingering occurs
when M > 1

Top View

Side View

2. Matrix rock channel

3. Water Coning

4. Fracture channeling

5. Horizontal directional high

permeability trend

Frontal Advance Theory

Assumptions:
1. The fluids are both incompressible
and immiscible
2. Piston like displacement. Hence,
viscous fingering is neglected. M<1.
3. Porous medium is homogenous
4. Displacement is one-dimensional
and stable

Case 1: The velocity of the

frontal advance neglecting
gravity
Where:

Pattern selection
and well spacing

Case 2: The velocity of the frontal

advance with gravity

Where:

Linear Stability Analysis

Calculating frontal advance velocity
considering the rate of growth of a
perturbation (viscous fingering) at
the front.
Neglecting gravity:

With gravity (dipping reservoir):

The finger grows exponentially if M >

1, decays exponentially if M < 1, and
does not propagate if M = 1.
Viscous fingering exponential
growth: