Influence of wettability variations on dynamic effects in capillary pressure

Abstract

Traditional continuum‐based multiphase simulators incorporate a capillary pressure‐saturation relationship that assumes instantaneous attainment of equilibrium following a disturbance. This assumption may not be appropriate for systems where the capillary pressure is a function of the rate of change of saturation, a phenomenon referred to as dynamic capillary pressure. Previous studies have investigated the impact of soil and fluid properties on dynamic effects in capillary pressure; however, the impact of wettability on this phenomenon has not been investigated to date. In this study, two‐phase multistep outflow (MSO) experiments conducted in chemically treated sands with different equilibrium contact angles were used to investigate the influence of wettability variations on dynamic effects in capillary pressure during displacement of water by tetrachloroethene (PCE). Data from the MSO experiments were modeled with a multiphase flow simulator that includes dynamic effects and were also analyzed through comparisons with theoretical model predictions for interface movement in a single capillary tube. Results showed that a faster approach to equilibrium, characterized by smaller fitted damping coefficients, occurred in sands with larger equilibrium contact angles. Damping coefficients for sands with an operational contact angle greater than 80° were found to be an order of magnitude smaller than those with an operational contact angle less than 65°. These results suggest that it may be possible to neglect dynamic effects in capillary pressure in systems that approach intermediate‐wet conditions but that these effects will be increasingly important in more water‐wet systems.