Wettability and Lenormand's diagram
Abstract
Fluid–fluid displacement in porous media has been viewed through the lens of Lenormand's phase diagram since the late 1980s. This diagram suggests that the character of the flow is controlled by two dimensionless parameters: the capillary number and the viscosity ratio. It is by now well known, however, that the wettability of the system plays a key role in determining the pore-scale displacement mechanisms and macroscopic invasion patterns. Here, we endow Lenormand's diagram with the impact of wettability using dynamic and quasi-static pore-network models. By using the fractal dimension and the ratio of characteristic viscous and capillary pressures we delineate the five principal displacement regimes within the extended phase diagram: stable displacement, viscous fingering, invasion percolation, cooperative pore filling and corner flow. We discuss the results in the context of pattern formation, displacement-front dynamics, pore-scale disorder and displacement efficiency.
Additional Information
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press. Received 24 September 2020; revised 9 April 2021; accepted 19 June 2021. The authors would like to thank A. Jacquey, E. Haghighat, J.A. da Silva Jr., W. Li, J. Li and P. Mora for insightful discussions and help with computation during the project. This work was funded by the KFUPM-MIT collaborative agreement 'Multiscale Reservoir Science'. R.J. acknowledges funding from the US Department of Energy (grant DE-SC0018357). The authors declare no conflict of interest.Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 110910
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20210915-222850696
- King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM)
- DE-SC0018357
- Department of Energy (DOE)
- Created
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2021-09-16Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-09-16Created from EPrint's last_modified field