Wettability controls slow immiscible displacement through local interfacial instabilities

Jung, Michael; Brinkmann, Martin; Seemann, Ralf; Hiller, Thomas; Lama, M. S. de la; Herminghaus, Stephan

doi:10.1103/physrevfluids.1.074202

Cited by 112 publications

(163 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…On the other hand, other experimental results [ Cottin et al ., ; Trojer et al ., ; Jung et al ., ] and numerical simulations [ Cieplak and Robbins , ] showed that as the invading fluid becomes more wetting, the fluid‐fluid displacement surface becomes more stable, which enhances the displacement efficiency and results in less trapped invading fluid. The pioneering work by Cieplak and Robbins [] introduced three modes of local‐scale water meniscus motion underlying the cooperative pore filling mechanism at the pore‐network scale.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wettability impact on supercritical CO₂ capillary trapping: Pore‐scale visualization and quantification

Wan

Kim

et al. 2017

Water Resources Research

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How the wettability of pore surfaces affects supercritical (sc) CO2 capillary trapping in geologic carbon sequestration (GCS) is not well understood, and available evidence appears inconsistent. Using a high‐pressure micromodel‐microscopy system with image analysis, we studied the impact of wettability on scCO2 capillary trapping during short‐term brine flooding (80 s, 8–667 pore volumes). Experiments on brine displacing scCO2 were conducted at 8.5 MPa and 45°C in water‐wet (static contact angle θ = 20° ± 8°) and intermediate‐wet (θ = 94° ± 13°) homogeneous micromodels under four different flow rates (capillary number Ca ranging from 9 × 10−6 to 8 × 10−4) with a total of eight conditions (four replicates for each). Brine invasion processes were recorded and statistical analysis was performed for over 2000 images of scCO2 saturations, and scCO2 cluster characteristics. The trapped scCO2 saturation under intermediate‐wet conditions is 15% higher than under water‐wet conditions under the slowest flow rate (Ca ∼ 9 × 10−6). Based on the visualization and scCO2 cluster analysis, we show that the scCO2 trapping process in our micromodels is governed by bypass trapping that is enhanced by the larger contact angle. Smaller contact angles enhance cooperative pore filling and widen brine fingers (or channels), leading to smaller volumes of scCO2 being bypassed. Increased flow rates suppress this wettability effect.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wettability impact on supercritical CO₂ capillary trapping: Pore‐scale visualization and quantification

Wan

Kim

et al. 2017

Water Resources Research

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“…Immiscible displacement patterns have been shown to be influenced by the wetting conditions (e.g., Dou et al, ; Holtzman & Segre, ; Hu et al, , ; Jung et al, ; Trojer et al, ). Here, we have also simulated the displacement patterns under weak drainage condition (contact angle 60°), as shown in Figure .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling Immiscible Two‐Phase Flow in Rough Fractures From Capillary to Viscous Fingering

Yang

Méheust

Neuweiler

et al. 2019

Water Resources Research

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We develop an efficient computational model for simulating fluid invasion patterns emerging in variable aperture fractures. This two‐dimensional model takes into account the effect of capillary force on the fluid‐fluid interfaces and viscous pressure drop in both fluid phases. The pressure distribution is solved at each time step based on mass balance and local cubic law, considering an imposed pressure jump condition at the fluid‐fluid interface. This pressure jump corresponds to the Laplace pressure which includes both terms related to the out‐of‐plane (aperture‐spanning) curvature and to the in‐plane curvature. Simulating a configuration that emulates viscous fingering in two‐dimensional random porous media confirms that the model accounts properly for the role of viscous forces. Furthermore, direct comparison with previously obtained experimental results shows that the model reproduces the observed drainage patterns in a rough fracture reasonably well. The evolutions of tip location, the inlet pressures, and the invading phase fractal dimensions are analyzed to characterize the transition from capillary fingering to viscous fingering regimes. A radial injection scenario of immiscible invasion is also studied with varying modified capillary number and viscosity ratio, showing displacement patterns ranging from capillary fingering to viscous fingering to stable displacement. Such simulations using two contact angles show that the invading phase becomes more compact when the wetting condition changes from strong to weak drainage, as already observed in 2‐D porous media. The model can be used to bridge the gap in spatial scales of two‐phase flow between pore‐scale modeling approaches and the continuum Darcy‐scale models.

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“…However, further research suggests that the wettability and topology of porous media can also significantly affect the displacement patterns apart from fluid properties and flow conditions. The characteristics of wettability have been well established [20][21][22][23][24][25][26], with an understanding of the mechanism where the displacement pattern generally becomes more compact as an invading fluid is further wetted to the medium due to the cooperative pore filling effect. The fingering pattern changes extensively as a result of corner flow with the wettability increase of invading fluid.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fingering patterns in hierarchical porous media

2020

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Porous media with hierarchical structures are commonly encountered in both natural and synthetic materials, e.g., fractured rock formations, porous electrodes and fibrous materials, which generally consist of two or more distinguishable levels of pore structure with different characteristic lengths. The multiphase flow behaviours in hierarchical porous media have remained elusive. In this study, we investigate the influences of hierarchical structures in porous media on the dynamics of immiscible fingering during fluid-fluid displacement. By conducting a series of numerical simulations, we found that the immiscible fingering can be suppressed due to the existence of secondary porous structures. To characterise the fingering dynamics in hierarchical porous media, a phase diagram is constructed by introducing a scaling parameter, i.e., the ratio of time scales considering the combined effect of characteristic pore sizes and wettability. The findings present in this work provide a basis for further research on the application of hierarchical porous media for controlling immiscible fingerings.

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Wettability controls slow immiscible displacement through local interfacial instabilities

Cited by 112 publications

References 53 publications

Wettability impact on supercritical CO₂ capillary trapping: Pore‐scale visualization and quantification

Wettability impact on supercritical CO₂ capillary trapping: Pore‐scale visualization and quantification

Modeling Immiscible Two‐Phase Flow in Rough Fractures From Capillary to Viscous Fingering

Fingering patterns in hierarchical porous media

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Wettability controls slow immiscible displacement through local interfacial instabilities

Cited by 112 publications

References 53 publications

Wettability impact on supercritical CO2 capillary trapping: Pore‐scale visualization and quantification

Wettability impact on supercritical CO2 capillary trapping: Pore‐scale visualization and quantification

Modeling Immiscible Two‐Phase Flow in Rough Fractures From Capillary to Viscous Fingering

Fingering patterns in hierarchical porous media

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Wettability impact on supercritical CO₂ capillary trapping: Pore‐scale visualization and quantification

Wettability impact on supercritical CO₂ capillary trapping: Pore‐scale visualization and quantification