Unified Model of Drainage and Imbibition in 3D Fractionally Wet Porous Media

We develop a grain-based model for capillarity controlled displacement within 3D fractionally wet porous media. The model is based on a novel local calculation of the position of stable fluid–fluid interfaces in contact with multiple spherical grains of arbitrary contact angles. The interface is assumed to be locally spherical between bulk phases; the interface is assumed to be toroidal between pairs of grains (surfaces of pendular rings). Because the calculation of interface position is entirely local and grain-based, it provides a single, generalized, geometric basis for computing pore-filling events during drainage as well as imbibition with both Melrose events (merging of two interfaces) and Haines events (geometric instability). The model is validated against a series of drainage/imbibition experiments (oil/water) on fractionally wet porous media prepared by mixing oil-wet grains with water-wet grains.