Introduction to

Capillary Pressure

Some slides in this section are modified from NExT PERF Short Course Notes, 1999.
However, many of the slides appears to have been obtained from other primary
sources that are not cited by NExT. Some slides have a notes section.

Applications of Capillary
Pressure Data

Determine fluid distribution in reservoir (initial conditions)

Accumulation of HC is drainage process for water wet
reservoirs (max possible HC saturation)
Sw= function of height above OWC (oil water contact)

Determine recoverable oil for water flooding applications

Imbibition process for water wet reservoirs

Pore Size Distribution Index,

Absolute permeability (flow capacity of entire pore size
distribution)
Relative permeability (distribution of fluid phases within the
pore size distribution)

Reservoir Flow - Capillary Pressure included as a term of flow

potential for multiphase flow
Input data for reservoir simulation models

DRAINAGE AND IMBIBITION

CAPILLARY PRESSURE CURVES
DRAINAGE

Drainage

Fluid flow process in which the saturation

of the nonwetting phase increases

Mobility of nonwetting fluid phase

increases as nonwetting phase saturation
increases

IMBIBITION

Fluid flow process in which the saturation

of the wetting phase increases

Mobility of wetting phase increases as

wetting phase saturation increases

Pc
Pd

Si = irreducible wetting phase saturation

Imbibition
Si

Sm = 1 - residual non-wetting phase saturation

Sm

0.5

Swt
Modified from NExT, 1999, after

Four Primary Parameters

1.0

Pd = displacement pressure, the pressure

required to force non-wetting fluid into largest
pores
= pore size distribution index; determines
shape

DRAINAGE PROCESS
Fluid flow process in which the saturation of the nonwetting
phase increases
Examples:
Hydrocarbon (oil or gas) filling the pore space and
displacing the original water of deposition in water-wet rock
Waterflooding an oil reservoir in which the reservoir is oil
wet
Gas injection in an oil or water wet oil reservoir
Pressure maintenance or gas cycling by gas injection in a
retrograde condensate reservoir
Evolution of a secondary gas cap as reservoir pressure
decreases

IMBIBITION PROCESS
IMBIBITION
Fluid flow process in which the
saturation of the wetting phase increases
Mobility of wetting phase increases as
wetting phase saturation increases
Examples:
Accumulation of oil in an oil wet reservoir
Waterflooding an oil reservoir in which the reservoir is
water wet
Accumulation of condensate as pressure decreases in
a dew point reservoir

Pc vs. Sw Function
Reflects Reservoir Quality
Core Lithofacies

Core Pore
Plugs Types

Petrophysical
Data

Gamma Ray Flow

Log
Units

Capillary
vs k Pressure

5
High Quality
4
3

Function moves up
and right, and
becomes less L
shaped as reservoir
quality decreases

Low Quality

Effect of Permeability on Shape

20

Capillary Pressure

16

Decreasing
Permeability,
Decreasing

12
C
B

0
0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

Water Saturation
Modified from NExT 1999, after xx)

Capillary pressure, psia

Effect of Grain Size Distribution on Shape

Well-sorted

Modfied from NExT, 1999; after )

Poorly sorted
Decreasing

Water saturation, %

CAPILLARY PRESSURE
- DEFINITION The pressure difference existing across
the interface separating two immiscible
fluids in capillaries (e.g. porous media).
Calculated as:
Pc = pnwt - pwt

Where:
Pc = capillary pressure

One fluid wets the surfaces of the formation

rock (wetting phase) in preference to the other
(non-wetting phase).

Pnwt = pressure in nonwetting phase

Gas is always the non-wetting phase in both

oil-gas and water-gas systems.

pwt = pressure in wetting phase

Oil is often the non-wetting phase in water-oil

systems.

Capillary Tube - Conceptual Model

Air-Water System
h

Air

Water
Considering the porous media as a collection of capillary tubes provides useful
insights into how fluids behave in the reservoir pore spaces.
Water rises in a capillary tube placed in a beaker of water, similar to water (the
wetting phase) filling small pores leaving larger pores to non-wetting phases of
reservoir rock.

CAPILLARY TUBE MODEL

AIR / WATER SYSTEM
The height of water in a capillary tube is a function of:

2 aw cos
h =
r g aw

Adhesion tension between the air and water

Radius of the tube
Density difference between fluids

This relation can be derived from balancing the upward force due to adhesion
tension and downward forces due to the weight of the fluid (see ABW pg 135).
The wetting phase (water) rise will be larger in small capillaries.
h
=
Height of water rise in capillary tube, cm
aw
=
Interfacial tension between air and water,
dynes/cm

=
Air/water contact angle, degrees
r
=
Radius of capillary tube, cm
g
=
Acceleration due to gravity, 980 cm/sec2
aw
=
Density difference between water and air, gm/cm3
Contact angle, , is measured through the more dense phase (water in this
case).

Rise of Wetting Phase Varies with

Capillary Radius
1

AIR

WATER

Ayers, 2001

CAPILLARY TUBE MODEL

AIR/WATER SYSTEM
pa1
pw1

Air

pa2
pw2
Water

Water rise in capillary tube depends on the density difference of fluids.

Pa2

= pw2 = p2

pa1

= p2 - a g h

pw1

= p2 - w g h

Pc

= pa1 - pw1
= w g h - a g h
= g h

CAPILLARY PRESSURE AIR / WATER

SYSTEM
Combining the two relations results in the following
expression for capillary tubes:

2 aw cos
Pc =
r

CAPILLARY PRESSURE OIL / WATER

SYSTEM
From a similar derivation, the equation for
capillary pressure for an oil/water system is

2 ow cos
Pc =
r
Pc

= Capillary pressure between oil and water

ow = Interfacial tension between oil and water, dyne/cm

= Oil/water contact angle, degrees

r

= Radius of capillary tube, cm