화학공학소재연구정보센터
Transport in Porous Media, Vol.13, No.3, 277-299, 1993
ANALYTICAL MODEL OF STEAM ZONE PROPAGATION IN POROUS-MEDIA
Steam injected into oil-bearing porous media forms a steam zone which propagates in three-dimensional space. The injected steam forms the condensation front bounding the seam zone. Simultaneous mass and the energy transfers take place through this moving boundary, between the rocks and fluids inside and outside the steam zone. The energy transfer is by conduction and convection. A new mathematical model describes the propagation growth of the steam zone subject to initial and boundary conditions, and is applicable in a general case of heterogeneous steam zone of arbitrary geometry. The model is based on the simultaneous analytical solution of the coupled overall mass and energy balance equations for a multi-phase steam zone, and is presented here for the first time. The resulting nonlinear integral equation does not have an analytical solution for a general case. The exact solution is found for a cylindrical homogeneous steam zone. For a special case of a one-dimensional, two phase steam zone, this solution shows excellent agreement with available experimental data.