Capillary pressure across a pore throat in the presence of surfactants
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ArticleKAUST Department
Ali I. Al-Naimi Petroleum Engineering Research Center (ANPERC)Earth Science and Engineering Program
Energy Resources and Petroleum Engineering
Physical Science and Engineering (PSE) Division
Date
2016-12-25Online Publication Date
2016-12-25Print Publication Date
2016-12Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/623272
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Capillarity controls the distribution and transport of multiphase and immiscible fluids in soils and fractured rocks; therefore, capillarity affects the migration of nonaqueous contaminants and remediation strategies for both LNAPLs and DNAPLs, constrains gas and oil recovery, and regulates CO2 injection and geological storage. Surfactants alter interfacial tension and modify the invasion of pores by immiscible fluids. Experiments are conducted to explore the propagation of fluid interfaces along cylindrical capillary tubes and across pore constrictions in the presence of surfactants. Measured pressure signatures reflect the interaction between surface tension, contact angle, and the pore geometry. Various instabilities occur as the interface traverses the pore constriction, consequently, measured pressure signatures differ from theoretical trends predicted from geometry, lower capillary pressures are generated in advancing wetting fronts, and jumps are prone to under-sampling. Contact angle and instabilities are responsible for pronounced differences between pressure signatures recorded during advancing and receding tests. Pressure signatures gathered with surfactant solutions suggest changes in interfacial tension at the constriction; the transient surface tension is significantly lower than the value measured in quasi-static conditions. Interface stiffening is observed during receding fronts for solutions near the critical micelle concentration. Wetting liquids tend to form plugs at pore constrictions after the invasion of a nonwetting fluid; plugs split the nonwetting fluid into isolated globules and add resistance against fluid flow.Citation
Jang J, Sun Z, Santamarina JC (2016) Capillary pressure across a pore throat in the presence of surfactants. Water Resources Research 52: 9586–9599. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2015wr018499.Sponsors
Support for this research was provided by the USA Department of Energy and the KAUST endowment. We are grateful to detailed observations and suggestions by the anonymous reviewers. All data sets generated as part of this study are available from the authors.Publisher
American Geophysical Union (AGU)Journal
Water Resources ResearchAdditional Links
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2015WR018499/abstractae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1002/2015wr018499