Reservoir Characterization by Tracer Testing

Abstract

Reservoir characterization includes all techniques and methods that improve understanding the geological and petrophysical properties that control the fluid flow. The objective is to provide practical reservoir models for optimum field development. Tracer study has become an important technique for reservoir characterization, particularly in such specialized areas as geothermal engineering, oil reservoir engineering (Baldwin, and hydrology (Rubbin and James, 1973). Several processes generally act simultaneously on a chemical constituent while it is transported through a porous medium. Among these, the two primary processes are the physical phenomena of convection and hydrodynamic dispersion. While convection deals with the bulk movement of fluids, hydrodynamic dispersion describes the actions of molecular dispersion and shear or mechanical mixing. These transport processes normally are represented adequately by the well known convection-dispersion equations with or without chemical reactions. Most of the time, these diffusion equations are based on linear or one dimensional geometry, largely because of the relative ease with which such equations can be solved analytically