Two-dimensional counter-current capillary imbibition of a wetting phase into a partially submerged porous cylindrical matrix block

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to address the two-dimensional counter-current capillary dominant imbibition of a wetting phase into a water-wet porous cylindrical matrix block partially submerged in the wetting phase. A two-dimensional unsteady-state diffusion equation is used to model the process. The governing equation is solved using a combination of the Laplace and the finite Fourier sine transforms to find and analyze the solutions for the normalized water saturation and the volume of the imbibed wetting phase. The results reveal that the volume of the imbibed wetting phase and the capillary diffusion shape factor for a partially submerged matrix block are significantly lower compared to those of a fully submerged matrix block, highlighting the overestimation of imbibed volume using available models based on full immersion in the wetting phase. It has been observed that the volume of the imbibed wetting phase increases over time until reaching a state of equilibrium. In the case of a partially submerged matrix block, the shape factor is inversely proportional to the square root of time (σ ∼ 1/t) during the early time and decreases sharply as the imbibed wetting phase reaches an equilibrium. In the case of a fully submerged matrix block, the shape factor is inversely proportional to the square root of time (σ ∼ 1/t) during the early time and later reaches a pseudo-steady-state value. The proposed model, along with the findings obtained, advances our understanding of capillary imbibition in porous media.