Rock Wettability

Wettability can be defined as the tendency of one fluid to spread on or adhere to a

solid surface in the presence of other immiscible fluids.

The tendency of a liquid to spread over the surface of a solid is an indication of the
wetting characteristics of the liquid for the solid. This spreading tendency can be
expressed more conveniently by measuring the angle of contact at the liquid-solid
surface. This angle, which is always measured through the liquid to the solid, is
called the contact angle θ.

The contact angle θ has achieved significance as a measure of wettability. as the

contact angle decreases, the wet characteristics of the liquid increase.

The wettability of reservoir rocks to the fluids is important in that the distribution of
the fluids in the porous media is a function of wettability. Because of the attractive
forces, the wetting phase tends to occupy the smaller pores of the rock and the
nonwetting phase occupy the more open channels.

the term surface tension is used to describe the forces acting on the interface. When
the interface is between two liquids, the acting forces are called interfacial tension.
Therefore, the contact angle, θ, is used to measure wettability. the solid is water-wet if θ < 90°
and oil-wet if θ > 90°. A contact angle approaching 0° indicates a strongly water-wet system
and an angle approaching 180° indicates a strongly
oil-wet rock.
.
Rock wettability affects the nature of fluid saturations and the general relative
permeability characteristics of a fluid/rock system.

Considering the effect of wettability on fluid distributions, it is easy to rationalize that relative
permeability curves are strong functions of wettability, as Willhite (1986) discusses in some
detail. Rocks are also known to have intermediate and/or mixed wettability, depending on the
physical/chemical makeup of the rock and the composition of the oil phase. Intermediate
wettability occurs when both fluid phases tend to wet the solid, but one phase is only slightly
more attracted than the other.

Mixed wettability results from a variation or heterogeneity in chemical composition of exposed

rock surfaces or cementing-material surfaces in the pores. Because of this mixed chemical
exposure, the wettability condition may vary from point to point.
While σow can be measured as described earlier, σos and σws have never been measured
directly. Experimental methods have not been developed to make these determinations.

the capillary

the capillary, r. The capillary pressure may be positive or negative; the sign merely expresses in
which phase the pressure
is lower. The phase with the lower pressure will always be the phase that preferentially wets the
capillary. Notice that Pc
varies inversely as a function of the capillary radius and increases as the affinity of the wetting
phase for the rock surface
increases. This concept is extremely important to the discussion that follows.

The values of R1 and R2 are related to the saturation of the wetting-phase fluid within a porous
medium. Therefore, the
capillary pressure depends on the saturation of the fluid phase that wets the system, although the
exact nature of the dependence
may not be simply stated because the variation of R1 and R2 with the saturation is quite
complex.

Viscous Forces

Viscous forces in a porous medium are reflected in the magnitude of the pressure drop that
occurs as a result of flow of a fluid through the medium. One of the simplest approximations
used to calculate the viscous force is to consider a porous medium as a bundle of parallel
capillary tubes
 Phase Trapping
Trapping of oil or other fluids in a porous medium such as a reservoir rock is not understood
completely and cannot be rigorously described mathematically. The trapping mechanism,
however, is known to depend on

(1) the pore structure of the porous medium,

(2) fluid/rock interactions related to wettability,
(3) fluid/fluid interactions reflected in IFT

Trapping in a Single Capillary. Trapping in a Single Capillary—Jamin Effect

Fig. 2.14 shows three variations of the case shown in Fig. 2.13b, the finite drop in contact with
water on both sides of the drop. In Fig. 2.14a,
the capillary tube size varies and therefore the radius is smaller on one side of the drop than on
the other. Fig. 2.14b shows a situation where
the contact angle is different on the two sides of the drop, which could result, for example, if the
drop were displaced in one direction, causing an advancing contact angle different from the
receding angle.

At the downstream side, the contact angle is water receding, while at the upstream side it is
water advancing.
Water advancing angle can be considerably larger than water receding contact angle.
 It makes the radius of curvature smaller at the downstream interface, making that pressure
discontinuity larger.

If rB < rA, then pA > pB and a pressure drop exists in the direction from Point A to Point B

For an advancing contact angle at Point B and a receding angle at Point A, θA > θB and cos θA
< cos θB. This situation occurs when the drop is on the verge of moving to the right in the
figure. Again, pA > pB and a pressure gradient exists in the potential direction of flow at static,
or trapped, conditions.
Fig. 2.14c

In this case, IFT and contact angles are different at the two interfaces because the fluid systems
are different. Again, if σgo
cos θb > σgw cos θa, a pressure drop exists from Point A to Point B when this system is static.
is required for v2 to be positive (i.e., to move the oil in Pore 2).
The v1 values in Table 2.4 are orders of magnitude larger than normal reservoir velocities (i.e.,
to displace any oil from Pore2, very large velocities are required). According to the pore-
doublet model, oil is displaced only from the small pore at this stage of the displacement
process. In fact, for velocities that could be present in a reservoir during displacement in Pore 1,
the computed velocity in Pore 2 would be negative. Negative or reverse flow is limited and
probably does not occur. Probably, the radius of curvature of the oil/water interface becomes
smaller, preventing flow from Pore 2 into Pore 1. At the instant that all oil in Pore 1 has been
displaced, the pressure at Point B drops and pA becomes larger than pB.

For a constant velocity through Pore 1, the pressure difference, pB − pA, caused by frictional
losses in that pore is now available the pressure difference, pB − pA, caused by frictional losses
in that pore is now available to force the isolated oil globule from Pore 2, as depicted in Fig.
2.18. As the figure shows, movement of the oil drop creates a
difference in the contact angles (receding vs. advancing contact angles). According to the Jamin
effect described earlier, this would result in phase trapping. Also, any narrowing of the pore
channel would result in trapping because of differences in capillary radii between the front and
back sides of the drop.