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The Effect of Mixed Wettability on Pore‐Scale Flow Regimes Based on a Flooding Experiment in Ketton Limestone
Author(s) -
Rücker M.,
Bartels W.B.,
Singh K.,
Brussee N.,
Coorn A.,
Linde H. A.,
Bonnin A.,
Ott H.,
Hassanizadeh S. M.,
Blunt M. J.,
Mahani H.,
Georgiadis A.,
Berg S.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2018gl081784
Subject(s) - wetting , geology , permeability (electromagnetism) , porous medium , relative permeability , multiphase flow , carbonate , mineralogy , flow (mathematics) , fluid dynamics , porosity , petroleum engineering , geotechnical engineering , materials science , mechanics , composite material , chemistry , metallurgy , biochemistry , physics , membrane
Darcy‐scale multiphase flow in geological formations is significantly influenced by the wettability of the fluid‐solid system. So far it has not been understood how wettability impacts the pore‐scale flow regimes within rocks, which were in most cases regarded as an alteration from the base case of strongly water‐wet conditions by adjustment of contact angles. In this study, we directly image the pore‐scale flow regime in a carbonate altered to a mixed‐wet condition by aging with crude oil to represent the natural configuration in an oil reservoir with fast synchrotron‐based X‐ray computed tomography. We find that the pore‐scale flow regime is dominated by ganglion dynamics in which the pore space is intermittently filled with oil and brine. The frequency and size of these fluctuations are greater than in water‐wet rock such that their impact on the overall flow and relative permeability cannot be neglected in modeling approaches.