Fines migration and formation damage: Microscale studies.

摘要

Fines migration through porous media takes place in a broad range of areas, spanning from functional structures in living organisms to mechanical operations involving filtration. Fines migration in geomaterials emerges from two inherent characteristics of particulate materials: (1) permeability, and (2) the presence of particles that do not carry load within the assemblage. These particles may migrate about the pore space comprised by the skeletonian particles if favorable conditions exist. Moreover, particle migration can lead to formation clogging (e.g., formation damage). The goal of this research is to enhance the understanding of fines migration and formation clogging by identifying and studying the underlying phenomena and processes that take place at the microscale. Emphasis is placed on silt-size fines and the radial clogging of oil reservoirs.; Fines migration starts with the generation of fines: the role of particle crushing as a fines generation mechanism is evaluated. Produced fines are prone to mobilization, which is governed by force balance at the particle scale. The consequent migration and entrapment of fines includes retardation effects, is determined by geometrical constraints that lead to bridging, and manifests in the ensuing flow nonlinearity associated with the clogging process. These mechanisms, retardation, bridging, and radial clogging, are addressed independently. Bridge stability is susceptible to vibrations, in which case, inertial forces are responsible for destabilization. These inherently linked phenomena and processes are studied through uniquely designed microscale and macroscale experiments and complemented with corresponding analyses.