Analysis and discuss

Two aspects were analyzed and discussed here. First was the effect of grain size
distribution on porosity and permeability of sandpack, and the second was the effectiveness of
water flooding with different salinity concentration on the same sandpack.
In order to analyze the effect of grain size distribution three different sandpack with
different concentration were used. The sandpack 1 had 70% of coarse grain, sandpack 2 had 70%
fine and the sandpack 3 had 70% medium grain. The first parameter estimated was porosity, the
space between rock grain, and it was done by using the eq.4, which related the sand volume with
bulk volume.
𝑆𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡(𝑔) = 𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑘 ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑤/𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑑 − ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑘 ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 >>>>>>> (1)
𝑆𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡(𝑔)
𝑆𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 (𝑐𝑐) = 𝑔 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> (2)
𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦( )
𝑐𝑐
𝜋∗(𝐴𝑣.𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑟)2 ∗𝐴𝑣 .𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑟
𝐵𝑢𝑙𝑘 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 (𝑐𝑐) = >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> (3)
4
𝑆𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒
𝑃𝑜𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 (%) = 1 – (
𝑏𝑢𝑙𝑘 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒
) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> (4)
For the above equations, it was assumed the grain density to be 2.65 g/cc, and the results are present
in both table 1 and fig.1.
Permeability describes the ability of a fluid to flow through a rock. The permeability of
sandpack was estimated by using Darcy’s law equation. Solving permeability on the equation and
knowing the viscosity of fluid, the slope of the linear curve of plot between (flow rate/area) versus
(Change in pressure/length) is the permeability/viscosity.
𝑞 𝐾 𝑑𝑃
𝑦 = 𝑚𝑥 + 𝑏 ( )=( )∗( ) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> (5)
𝐴 µ 𝐿
𝐾 = 𝑠𝑙𝑜𝑝𝑒 ∗ 𝜇 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> (6)
for the above equations, it was assumed the viscosity of vegetable oil to be 31.8 cP at 37ºC,
although it may not be the actual temperature during the experiment. The results are shown in both
table.1 and fig.1.
the final parameter related to grain size distribution was saturation, which in this case
shows at what percentage was possible to saturate the sandpack with vegetable oil. It was estimated
by using eq.7. Similar to porosity and permeability, the results are also shown in fig.1 and table.1.
𝑜𝑖𝑙 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒−8 𝑐𝑐
𝑂𝑖𝑙 𝑆𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛(%) = ∗ 100 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> (7)
𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒

Average PACK 1 PACK 2 PACK 3

Porosity (%) 31.35 33.95 33.56

Permeability, D 18.15 22.46 23.08

Oil Saturation (%) 75.04 78.91 77.86

Table.1-Summary of parameters used to access the effect of grain distribution on sandpack.
 Average parameters of Sandpacks
25.00 80

Pack 3 79
20.00 Pack 2 79

Av Oil saturation, %
Pack 1 78
Pack 3

Av permebility, D
15.00 78
77
10.00 Permeabilty, D 77
Oil Saturation 76
(%)
5.00 76
Pack 1 75
0.00 75
30 31 32 33 34 35
Av. porosity, %

Fig.1- Relationship among parameters used to describe the sandpack

Table 1 is displaying the average values of the parameters because those values were
measured three times, representing each type of waterflooding experiments. The all data are
presented in the table 1A in the appendix, and one can clearly see that the way grain sand are
mixed and compressed into the sand holder may cause affect slightly the parameters values. Fig.
1 shows relationship among the three major parameters. The average porosity values range from
31 to 34%, but surprisingly the sandpack with highest percentage of coarse grain (pack 1) gave
lower porosity whereas the sandpack with highest fine grain (pack 2) gave the opposite. The reason
may be that here it was not taking into the consideration the effective porosity, which the fluid can
be extracted, or because the amount of fine grain may have occupied some of the same porous
space between the coarse grain. This is also supported by the pack 3, which has 10% less fine
grain and there was 2% increase in porosity. Moreover, the average permeability of
sandpack range from 18-23 D in which the sandpack with highest fine grain (pack 2) had the
highest value. Fine grain presence within the porous has little to nothing effect on
permeability as long as there is enough pressure to overcome that little resistance.