AN EQUATION FOR FITTING ANe CORRElA I�G

C
EXPERIMENTAL RELATIVE PERMEABILITY RATIO DATA

Cur is H. Whitso , University of Trondheim, NTH

Es· imation of gas-oil, water�·1 and gas-wa er relative permeability

ratios are essential to reservoir engineering predictiQns and laboratory
data usually provide the most accurate measure of this wo-phase beha�ibr.
1

Because of the r• andom nature of core analysis i!liere is usually\catter i�g

of measured data and it is rtfecessary tb use averaging and correlating
techniqLes to represent the data. This paper reviews and extends such
techniques originally proposed by Knopp 1 for a gas-oil sys·tem, and b�.ca. use
of the similarity between K g /K ., Kw/K0 and K g /Kw curves, . it was possible to
0
f
develop a mathematical relation to describe relative flow behavior fof all f ...

three two-phase systems. An example illustrates how experimental relaf-ive

r;;
permeability ratio curves car\ be defined explicitly using an efficierh: dat�-
fitting pr-0cedure w�ich does not require the aih of a di�ital computer.

A first attempt was made to fit Knapp's K /KA data using the Corey2
g
equation. Liquid and gas satura ion variables,. SLr ,and Sm, used ih the
y

equation wet� ciltulated ffom .

tfie charts of Johnson 3 and resulted
'
in a
trial and error soluUo)\, for K g /KO as a function of gas saturat• ion; Sg'
i •
and inter§titia,l water saturation'. Sw1... Calcu1attid K/K0 val_ues from thi
method ext'i1M}ited lcfrge de:\tiation's from chart values at low g/:, saturations
and ,t was necessary to develop· another approach.
• I

The e{luat-i6n �roposed has several advantages over previously publishe'd

correlationCwhi�h descrf,bg
. relative permeability ratio�: l.t ·•it,,. fits -
experimP.nta·1 d� l:i·Sing least sq ires' linear regression {LStR)? or a sfope-
intercept graphical technique: 2. beijavior of relative permeabiiity ratio is
r
described in, abov�--> and be1b\-J the mid-range linear region, 1 3. the corre iation
technique present.�d by Knop!)' is· gr-eatiy simplified by replacing. cumbersome
charts {his Fis. 3A-3t) with a set of-easily calculated equafltrns�which
can be solved graphically ot wit'ffia�hand-held calculator, 4. the equations
presented can replace timel'and space Gonsuming storage f tabular data in
reservoir simulators, a d'·s. residual saturatio11' �r·e not requ ) " ;·. red, as they

'-- are often difficult if not -i.lflpossjb'le to measure i-rt tfi.� laboratory, and can
in fact be estimated from the equation proposed.
 3

The form of the equation for a gas-oil system is

. . . . . . . . . (l )
:., ;-. -

where the gas saturation terms are defined as

A(S g) = a sg + b .......... (Regi�n A),

o1(sg) = -1o(c 5g + d) (Region B),

Eq. l fits the three regions of KlKo ·behavior shown in ,Fig. 2. One
should notice that the form of the first term is lo.ga·r-ithrilkally linear
and can be solved ind e ently using- LSLR. The following proc�dure
(� :�
describes the techniq r fitting the last two exponential terms.
�

The coefficients ·c., d, :e and f a-re determined explicitly by defining

the delta-functions as

• • • ( 2)

where

�Kg/K0)curve = relative perme·ability ratio from curve in Region B or C at sg

J r
and (Kg/K0') 1·inear -= relative permeability ratio from linear extrapo,lation to Sg

A plot of log10 o 1(Sg) or log10 o 2(Sg) versus Sg for Region B or C respect­

ively'-will result'in a strai•ght line (see Fig. 3); that is, LSLR of the log­
arithm of the delta functions and gas saturation will generate, coefficients
c and d for Region B and-e and f for Region C. In.essence, the delta functions
are the absolute logarithmic deviations of Kg/K0 from the mid-rijnge linear
trend, and are thus equivalent to Knopp�s Figs. 3C-3E (for Region B only).
The following example illustrates the .- procedure for fitting Eq. 1.
-· . -. .-· ...... -- --: ,-,·-· ___...,._ --
 5

,,....
I
According to the arguements presented by Knopp (see his Figs. 3C-3E)
the exponential coefficients c and d should also vary with Sw;· It was found
however that a continuous an� d�finable function could not be found for c and d;
because the coefficients _did not exhibit _iarge �eviations, average values were
used instead with little loss of accuracy. These values are

c = - 1 5.63 (6)

d = 0.4 1 33 .. . . (7)

Using the correlation given by Eqs. 4-7, the following equation is derived
for S wi = 20%,and can be compared with Eq. 3

log1 0(Kg/Ko) = 8 . 264 Sg - 1 ' 985 - 1 0(-l5-63 Sg + 0.41 33) • • • • . ( 8)

The deviation of calculated and curve K /K values for the example curve,
9 0
as shown in columns 5 and 6 of Table ·l, is too small to be des�ribed graphically.
Instead, deviation is defined by the absolute c·onformance factor! v ±1 ,
n
v ±l = antilog1 0(1 /n _:r 11 091 0 CR; I) .... . . (9)
1 =1
.•

where
I

�-
(K/Ko)eqn.
CR; = , i� sg = 3, 5, 7.5, 1 0, 1 5, 20; 25, 30 and 35%
(Kg/Ko)curve

c-· ' ''

For the data in the example, V ± 1 = 1.0295 and 1 .0305 for Eqs. 3 and 8
, .l • •

respectively.'
� :.. These values can be translated to mean numerical . deviations
"'

of 2.95 and 3.05% above, or an equidistant

'
2.9
;.
1 and 2.95% below
. the
smoothed curve (at Swi = 20%) in Fig. 1 .

RELATIVE PERMEABILITY RATIO CORRELATION DEVELOPMENT

When a family of relative permeability ratio curves must be correlated,
as was done by Knopp for a gas-oil system, there are several methods to
choose from. The most rigorous, in my opinion, is to combine the equations
presented in this paper with the procedure given by Knopp. The method is
given in abbreviated form below.
-
References
1. Kn6pp, C.R.:"Gas-Oil Relative Permeabili·ty Ratto· Correlation
from Laboratory Data-; "Trans • Al ME(1965 )234,1111 ..: 1122
2. Corey, A.T., Rathjens; C.H., Heiiderson,·J.H., and Wylie ,. M.R.J.:
"Three-Phase Relative Permeability,"Trans.AIME(l956)207,349-351
3. Johnson, C.E.:�A Two-Point Graphical Determin�ti�� of the
Constants Slr and Sm in the Cor-ey Equation for Ga:s-Oil
Relative Permeability Ratio,"J.Pet.Tech·. (Oct.1968)

c· -·
• l

:, •I ,..
• r,_.

r ,.

·)·· - -. ·)
.l -,

,, . '. '...
 INTERSTITIAL WATER
SATURATION, Swl• % qQ 35 30 25
��-:-.....+r---_�-ri_'-_-_,1-----"1-r-_-:.._-+r_-_...4-,1,_-_-_�"'!_-_7,.""2...-_---t.
. 10, 0 7-t"T"'t'l"""rt-r+.-rh�"i':-1-i-T"-rr-:-:..+-r..,..,1-;-":':..;._ .....L �....._�-■
...._---l
8 IO ���1=i�r: ++�£+
+ +r:-4
r����t---....-...,..
1,-,.. �i-f._:_-:�+��- --l-+-_-_-�t_-_-.,l
t.� -.,l
�� -.,l ,t:_
i-�;__,,-�'-t- -,_...,� 20
=E l:.!
. . . : : : ! i !..,..
! - - -
6,0
ti.a 15
3,0
10
2,0

5
1,0
0
::..:: 0,8
� 0�6

-
0
..
. a.ti , !

�. 0 ■-3

-
►
1-
0,2 -E:���===:.+,:-:�i,,:..;..;��-h,,ll��...:..j,;0!�+;-�----4-,;..:...:...:...J-;.-----=-+___;_---I
(�
UJ ....
X •1,; • •

a:
UJ -+f----_-:-_-4+-_-_-_,�+--_-_�1----_--1-'
0 1 1-'li1-T'-tT"+t-,+.i..1-l"T'➔+-+r.-+'1-i-t+�:#-"";T",C.,....,f-1,�,...�"T",i;"i-t-,-h��T'➔+-,.,.�':!..H�T"+T"",.,..'1.;1-;�"T"..t.-r-+i-f-�1-;-r..,.
a. o8 11�����tli��1t������1i���1t���+it1-t+�i+�-;.1--:..-:..-t-;�i-�-=-4��
-1
I
c..
UJ
>
- o ..ps •. i

-
..J

I
O,Oti
0,03 ':
; ;
Iii i
en
0,02
11 ii
I!!!
�· · I::! ii! I Ii iI
i:: l ! i I
! I t

I I '
t I t I
'f I ' ,,
i: i:I I:;;
I I I I I J • • • I • It
0,01
0,008 NOTES
0,006 1. Sw i MAY BE ESTIMATED FROM 50 PSIG CAI' I LI.MY
PRESSURE VALUE IN AIR - WAlER SYSTEM,
0, OOti �l-++Ul!-Jl.��-"-'-'--'-1
0 ,003 ·4����.:;:.µ+-1 2, DASHED LINES AH� LXTRAPOLATIONS OF THE
EXPERIMENTAL DATA OF KNOPP,
0,002 -E�-!/4.f::f:�4:-;�;,t.;;-�·!:;:��=i====i::;::::;:::::;::::==i:==i:====i==:::::;==:i===i==::!.1

0,001
0 o;os 0,10 0,15 0,20 0,25 0,30 0,35

GAS SATURATION, s
9
Fig. 1 Gas-oil relative permeability ratio data from Knopp.

(_J
 1.00 0'.!..'!+�------------.----
�:· -� ..... , ·" · - .
-----------10.00

0.80

0.40 4.00

0.20

-
V)

co
Cl

,....

r'· z
....
0

L,.J
0

--- .-
1-i-t-+-r -r-:, --

0. �2. � r.:1 ;�--:...-..;-- ;��

. . . -·
- -:-:-:
0.20

('
0. 10
8.25 0.30 0.35
GAS--SATURATION; Sg
.: ··--•: .
Fig. _;3·�un_ear' relation·s· _for fitting E'.q.. -1' in. Example' •

-,

'
....--
(__