NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF WATER IMBIBITION IN FRACTURED CORES.

Abstract

A two-dimensional, two-phase, semi-implicit, numerical simulator was used to simulate water imbibition and oil recovery in artifically fractured and unfractured cores. Experimental results were matched satisfactorily by the numerical simulator. The authors show that the flow equations used to match the laboratory data reduce to the equations used in the field simulator. In addition, the experiments themselves were conducted quite differently from those commonly used in imbibition experiments and provide added insight into oil recovery from fractured reservoirs.