A new design of steady-state type experiments for simultaneous estimation of two-phase flow functions

We have developed a new design of steady-state type experiments for simultaneous estimation of relative permeability and capillary pressure functions (collectively called multiphase flow functions) from measured pressure-drop and production data. The multiphase flow functions are represented by B-splines to ensure a flexible representation, and the coefficients in the representation are determined using a regression-based approach. The methodology is demonstrated using synthetic data. Further, we show that both relative permeability and capillary pressure functions can be estimated., and we were able to reconcile all pressure-drop and production data from the steady-state type experiment conducted. An analysis of the accuracy of the estimated functions showed that they were accurately determined over a large saturation interval.