首页|Analytical solutions of critical oil film thickness of negative spreading coefficient in a capillary corner

Analytical solutions of critical oil film thickness of negative spreading coefficient in a capillary corner

扫码查看
In this paper, by combining applications of minimum surface free energy with capillary force balance equations, and considering that the total free energy change is zero at thermodynamic equilibrium, an analytical equation of the oil film critical thickness to spread over a water film in a three-dimensional capillary corner is derived. The derivation is based on the analysis proposed by Dong et al. [Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 172 (1995) 21-36]. This analytical solution allows the critical oil film thickness in three-phase systems to be calculated conveniently without lengthy calculation and be readily applied in simulation of three-phase systems in porous media using predictive models. The equation was examined by comparing the analytical solutions with the numerical results by Dong et al. Using the analytical solution, the reason why the oil phase spreads between the gas and water phases in three-phase systems in porous media was analyzed. The spreading of oil phase is controlled by the free energy change, and the spreading of oil phase only occurs in the system when the free energy change during the oil spreading process is negative. Also, there is a critical oil film thickness controlling this process that is a function of interfacial tension, contact angles, and corner angles. This analytical solution of critical oil film thickness can also be utilized to find the correlation of three-phase capillary pressure when the system is in thermodynamic equilibrium for water-wet porous media. This correlation should be useful in pore-scale simulation of three-phase flow of spreading oil.

Three-phase flowOil filmCritical oil film thicknessImbibitionCapillary pressureAnalytical solution

Mingzhe Dong、Yajun Li、Peng Jia

展开 >

School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao, 266580, China

Faculty of Engineering, University of Regina, Regina, SK S4S 0A2, Canada

2022

Journal of Petroleum Science & Engineering

Journal of Petroleum Science & Engineering

ISSN:0920-4105
年,卷(期):2022.208PA
  • 1
  • 44