Atomistic Study of Dynamic Contact Angles in CO2-Water-Silica System.

Abstract

The dynamic wetting for the CO2-water-silica system occurring in deep reservoirs is complex because of the interactions among multiple phases. This work aims to quantify the contact angle of CO2-water flow in the silica channel at six different flow velocities using molecular dynamics. The dynamic contact angle values at different contact line velocities are obtained for the CO2-water-silica system. By calculating the rates of the adsorption-desorption process of CO2 and water molecules on the silica surface using molecular dynamics simulations, it has been found that the results of the dynamic contact angle can be explained by the molecular kinetic theory and predicted from the equilibrium molecular simulations. Moreover, the capillary pressure at different contact line velocities is predicted according to the Young-Laplace equation. The change in contact angles at different velocities is compared with empirical equations in terms of capillary number. The results of this study can help us better understand the dynamic process of the multiphase flow at the nanoscale under realistic reservoir conditions.