Experimental Study of Non-Darcy Two-Phase Flow in a Fractured – Vuggy Medium

Abstract

In order to study the characteristics of the flow regime, we conducted experiments on filtration of pure water and water/oil through an artificial fractured – vuggy medium. We found that both Darcy and non-Darcy flow can occur in a fractured – vuggy medium. After rewriting the Forchheimer equation, we calculated the inertial coefficient for different fracture widths and vug diameters. Based on the experimental studies, we also propose a new method for determining the flow regime for twophase flow using fractal theory.