Pr. King et al., Applications of statistical physics to the oil industry: predicting oil recovery using percolation theory, PHYSICA A, 274(1-2), 1999, pp. 60-66
In this paper we apply scaling laws from percolation theory to the problem
of estimating the time for a fluid injected into an oil field (for the purp
oses of recovering the oil) to breakthrough into a production well. The mai
n contribution is to show that percolation theory, when applied to a realis
tic model, can be used to obtain the same results as calculated in a more c
onventional way but significantly more quickly. Specifically, we found that
a previously proposed scaling form for the breakthrough time distribution
when applied to a real oil field is in good agreement with more time consum
ing simulation results. Consequently these methods can be used in practical
engineering circumstances to aid decision making for real field problems.
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