Greater-than-one relative permeability in mixed-wet limestone

Magali Christensen, Luca Romanello, Yukie Tanino

Research output: Contribution to conferenceUnpublished paperpeer-review

Abstract

Waterflood relative permeability was measured in Indiana limestone under five mixed-wet conditions, as characterized by macroscopic contact angles on polished calcite which ranged from 0w = 55° to 150°, and two Darcy velocities: Uw = 1.5 μm/s and 30 μm/s. Oil relative permeability at initial oil saturation decreased and brine relative permeability at residual oil saturation increased with increasing 0w under the conditions considered presently. Greater-than-one end-point relative permeability was observed at 0w < 90° for oil and at 0w > 130° for brine. End-point brine relative permeabilities were larger at the larger Uw under all oil-wet conditions considered, i.e., 0w > 90 ̊. In contrast to recent literature that associate greater-than-one permeability to the flow of non-wetting fluid against surface, we observed enhanced permeability even when the flowing fluid was the wetting phase. Our results demonstrate that models assuming kr ≤ 1 underestimate fluid displacement for a wider range of contact angles than previously documented.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages9
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2017
EventThe 31st International Symposium of the Society of Core Analysts - The Hofburg Palace, Vienna, Austria
Duration: 28 Aug 20171 Sept 2017

Conference

ConferenceThe 31st International Symposium of the Society of Core Analysts
Country/TerritoryAustria
CityVienna
Period28/08/171/09/17

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Greater-than-one relative permeability in mixed-wet limestone'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this