Pore geometry control of apparent wetting in porous media

Rabbani, Harris Sajjad; Zhao, Benzhong; Juanes, Rubén; Shokri, Nima

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-34146-8

Cited by 73 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…This progression of the in-plane curvature in our model was motivated by the work of Cieplak and Robbins (Cieplak & Robbins 1988, 1990) (see also Rabbani et al. 2018) and experiments on the progression of the in-plane curvature between the Hele-Shaw cell posts (Jung et al. 2016; Lee et al.…”

Section: Moving-capacitor Modelmentioning

confidence: 82%

Signatures of fluid–fluid displacement in porous media: wettability, patterns and pressures

Primkulov

Pahlavan

et al. 2019

J. Fluid Mech.

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We develop a novel "moving capacitor" dynamic network model to simulate immiscible fluid-fluid displacement in porous media. Traditional network models approximate the pore geometry as a network of fixed resistors, directly analogous to an electrical circuit. Our model additionally captures the motion of individual fluid-fluid interfaces through the pore geometry by completing this analogy, representing interfaces as a set of moving capacitors. By incorporating pore-scale invasion events, the model reproduces, for the first time, both the displacement pattern and the injection pressure signal under a wide range of capillary numbers and substrate wettabilities. We show that at high capillary numbers the invading patterns advance symmetrically through viscous fingers. In contrast, at low capillary numbers the flow is governed by the wettability-dependent fluid-fluid interactions with the pore structure. The signature of the transition between the two regimes manifests itself in the fluctuations of the injection pressure signal.

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Section: Moving-capacitor Modelmentioning

confidence: 82%

Signatures of fluid–fluid displacement in porous media: wettability, patterns and pressures

Primkulov

Pahlavan

et al. 2019

J. Fluid Mech.

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“…Additionally, wettability is another factor that could have a strong impact on the governing capillary force and stability of the displacement interface 20,52 . There have been some attempts to extend the classic phase diagram under different wettability conditions.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pore-scale characteristics of multiphase flow in heterogeneous porous media using the lattice Boltzmann method

Bakhshian

Hosseini

Shokri

2019

Sci Rep

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113

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This study provides a pore-scale investigation of two-phase flow dynamics during primary drainage in a realistic heterogeneous rock sample. Using the lattice Boltzmann (LB) method, a series of three-dimensional (3D) immiscible displacement simulations are conducted and three typical flow patterns are identified and mapped on the capillary number ( Ca )-viscosity ratio( M ) phase diagram. We then investigate the effect of the viscosity ratio and capillary number on fluid saturation patterns and displacement stability in Tuscaloosa sandstone, which is taken from the Cranfield site. The dependence of the evolution of saturation, location of the displacement front, 3D displacement patterns and length of the center of mass of the invading fluid on the viscosity ratio and capillary number have been delineated. To gain a quantitative insight into the characteristics of the invasion morphology in 3D porous media, the fractal dimension D f of the non-wetting phase displacement patterns during drainage has been computed for various viscosity ratios and capillary numbers. The logarithmic dependence of D f on invading phase saturation appears to be the same for various capillary numbers and viscosity ratios and follows a universal relation.

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“…Specifically, to date our conceptualization of multiphase flow has been based around quasitwo-dimensional experiments in micromodels [30], simulations (see, for instance, Ref. [31]), and theoretical analysis [32]. Hence it has hitherto been assumed that the fluidfluid menisci either are curved in only one direction or are approximately hemispherical with two approximately equal curvatures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Minimal surfaces in porous media: Pore-scale imaging of multiphase flow in an altered-wettability Bentheimer sandstone

et al. 2019

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High-resolution x-ray imaging was used in combination with differential pressure measurements to measure relative permeability and capillary pressure simultaneously during a steady-state waterflood experiment on a sample of Bentheimer sandstone 51.6 mm long and 6.1 mm in diameter. After prolonged contact with crude oil to alter the surface wettability, a refined oil and formation brine were injected through the sample at a fixed total flow rate but in a sequence of increasing brine fractional flows. When the pressure across the system stabilized, x-ray tomographic images were taken. The images were used to compute saturation, interfacial area, curvature, and contact angle. From this information relative permeability and capillary pressure were determined as functions of saturation. We compare our results with a previously published experiment under water-wet conditions. The oil relative permeability was lower than in the water-wet case, although a smaller residual oil saturation, of approximately 0.11, was obtained, since the oil remained connected in layers in the altered wettability rock. The capillary pressure was slightly negative and 10 times smaller in magnitude than for the water-wet rock, and approximately constant over a wide range of intermediate saturation. The oil-brine interfacial area was also largely constant in this saturation range. The measured static contact angles had an average of 80 • with a standard deviation of 17 •. We observed that the oil-brine interfaces were not flat, as may be expected for a very low mean curvature, but had two approximately equal, but opposite, curvatures in orthogonal directions. These interfaces were approximately minimal surfaces, which implies well-connected phases. Saddle-shaped menisci swept through the pore space at a constant capillary pressure and with an almost fixed area, removing most of the oil.

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Pore geometry control of apparent wetting in porous media

Cited by 73 publications

References 42 publications

Signatures of fluid–fluid displacement in porous media: wettability, patterns and pressures

Signatures of fluid–fluid displacement in porous media: wettability, patterns and pressures

Pore-scale characteristics of multiphase flow in heterogeneous porous media using the lattice Boltzmann method

Minimal surfaces in porous media: Pore-scale imaging of multiphase flow in an altered-wettability Bentheimer sandstone

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