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Capillary trapping in mixed-wet porous media: Implications for subsurface carbon dioxide sequestration
Citation Link: https://doi.org/10.15480/882.15360
Publikationstyp
Journal Article
Date Issued
2025-10-01
Sprache
English
TORE-DOI
Volume
191
Article Number
105307
Citation
International Journal of Multiphase Flow 191: 105307 (2025)
Publisher DOI
Scopus ID
Publisher
Elsevier
Subsurface sequestration of carbon dioxide (CO2) is driving efforts to attain carbon neutrality. For the safe
and optimal operation of such complex applications, it is imperative to understand the physics of fluids
displacement. Direct numerical simulations are used to investigate the flooding of two immiscible fluids
having viscosity contrasts in mixed-wet porous media, which are ubiquitous in reservoirs characterized by
multifarious mineralogizes and complex physico-chemical histories. Three mixed-wet systems having different
wettability ranges and one mono-wet case are considered for investigation. Flooding by low viscosity fluid
caused fingering. Though the fingering patterns vary for different wettability distributions, the sample-scale
morphological metrics for all cases are closely comparable. The fingering profiles are preserved and later
subjected to flooding by high viscosity fluid. Entrapment of the defending phase due to capillarity for different
wettability systems are investigated. When the wettability range increases, the trapping efficiency is also
seen to increase linearly, suggesting that reservoirs with strong mixed-wet conditions present an attractive
option for CO2 sequestration. Pore-scale fluid displacements reveal that during viscous fingering the fluidfluid
interface initially developed in non-wet zones retract which contribute towards cooperative pore filling
in the surrounding wetting zones that influence the characteristic features of invading fluid’s flow morphology.
Additionally, various possibilities by which the defending phase gets trapped by flow bypassing are explored.
Trapping was prominent in zones having an affinity to the defending phase. The average trapped ganglia size
increases commensurately with degree of dispersion in wettability. The study also highlights shortcomings of
analyzing multiphase flows in mono-wet systems. Insights from this study can be used for improving pore
network models and training machine learning algorithms.
and optimal operation of such complex applications, it is imperative to understand the physics of fluids
displacement. Direct numerical simulations are used to investigate the flooding of two immiscible fluids
having viscosity contrasts in mixed-wet porous media, which are ubiquitous in reservoirs characterized by
multifarious mineralogizes and complex physico-chemical histories. Three mixed-wet systems having different
wettability ranges and one mono-wet case are considered for investigation. Flooding by low viscosity fluid
caused fingering. Though the fingering patterns vary for different wettability distributions, the sample-scale
morphological metrics for all cases are closely comparable. The fingering profiles are preserved and later
subjected to flooding by high viscosity fluid. Entrapment of the defending phase due to capillarity for different
wettability systems are investigated. When the wettability range increases, the trapping efficiency is also
seen to increase linearly, suggesting that reservoirs with strong mixed-wet conditions present an attractive
option for CO2 sequestration. Pore-scale fluid displacements reveal that during viscous fingering the fluidfluid
interface initially developed in non-wet zones retract which contribute towards cooperative pore filling
in the surrounding wetting zones that influence the characteristic features of invading fluid’s flow morphology.
Additionally, various possibilities by which the defending phase gets trapped by flow bypassing are explored.
Trapping was prominent in zones having an affinity to the defending phase. The average trapped ganglia size
increases commensurately with degree of dispersion in wettability. The study also highlights shortcomings of
analyzing multiphase flows in mono-wet systems. Insights from this study can be used for improving pore
network models and training machine learning algorithms.
Subjects
Capillary trapping | Direct numerical simulations | Mixed-wet porous media | Multiphase flows | Viscous fingering
DDC Class
551: Geology, Hydrology Meteorology
620: Engineering
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