PREDICTING AND MODELING CHANGES IN CAPILLARY PRESSURE AND RELATIVE PERMEABILITIES IN A POROUS MEDIUM DUE TO MINERAL PRECIPITATION AND DISSOLUTION

摘要

Changes in capillary pressure and relative permeabilities in reactive transport codes or reservoir simulators are formed by computer modeling. Based on continuum-scale hydraulic properties, the pore size distribution (PSD) is determined from a capillary pressure curve using the capillary tube concept. Changes in mineral volume through equilibrium or kinetic mineral reactions are then translated to changes in pore radii of the pore size distribution by selectively changing the radii of water occupied pores. The resulting new pore size distribution is converted back to an updated capillary pressure curve, which is then used for determining and forming models of total permeability and relative permeabilities at the continuum scale.