Patent ID: 6178807
Filing Date: 2001-01-30
Classification: G01N

Abstract:
A method comprising:(a) saturating a core plug of a porous media with water to yield a water saturated core plug (SCP);(b) arranging said SCP in a centrifuge holder for said SCP and adding a hydrocarbon oil and water to said holder so as to position a first free water level encircling a cross section at a desired location along the length of said SCP;(c) centrifuging under oil and water with said first free water level into said SCP for a predetermined length of time at a temperature above the melting point of said oil to establish a fluid distribution and said first free water level within said core plug;(d) cooling said core plug which contains said oil and said water, to a temperature for solidifying said oil but not water while still centrifuging, thereby yielding a first fluid distributed core plug, wherein distribution of fluids in said core plug is fixed by freezing said oil;(e) imaging a saturation profile of said first distributed core plug outside of said centrifuge to determine the actual distribution of water saturation in said first distributed core plug;(f) calculating a capillary pressure for each point of said saturation profile in said first distributed core plug; and(g) producing a primary capillary drainage curve for said first distributed core plug.