Enhancement of Steam Phase Relative Permeability Due to Phase Transformation Effects in Porous Media

Abstract

An experimental study of two-phase concurrent flow of steam and water conducted (Verma et al., 1985) and a set of relative permeability curves was obtained. These curves were compared with semi-empirical results (Brooks and Corey, 1964) and experimental results obtained by other investigators (Johnson et al., 1959, and Osoba et al., 195 1) for two-phase, two-component flow (oiUgas; gaslwater; gasloil). It was found that while the wetting phase relative permeabilities were in good agreement, the relative permeability for the steam phase was considerably higher than the relative permeabilities of the non-wetting phase (oil in oillwater and non-condensing gas in gasloil or gadwater) in two-component systems (Figs. 1 and 2). This enhancement of steam relative permeability is attributed to phase transformation effects at the pore level in flow channels.