FLOW BEHAVIOR IN THE PRESENCE OF WETTABILITY HETEROGENEITIES

The physical processes occurring during fluid flow and displacement wi thin porous media having wettability heterogeneities have been investi gated in specially designed heterogeneous visual models. The models we re packed with glass beads, areas of which were treated with a water r epellent to create wettability variations. Immiscible displacement exp eriments show visually the effect of wettability heterogeneities on th e formation of residual oil and recovery due to capillary trapping. Th is work demonstrates by experiment the importance of incorporating res ervoir heterogeneity into pore displacement analysis, essential for th e correct interpretation of core data and for directing the route for scale-up of the processes to reservoir scale.