Relative Permeability Variation Depending on Viscosity Ratio and
Capillary Number
Abstract
The relative roles of parameters governing relative permeability, a
crucial property for two-phase fluid flows, are incompletely known. To
characterize the influence of viscosity ratio (M) and capillary number
(Ca), we calculated relative permeabilities of nonwetting fluids (knw)
and wetting fluids (kw) in a 3D model of Berea sandstone under
steady-state condition using the lattice Boltzmann method. We show that
knw increases and kw decreases as M increases due to the lubricating
effect, locally occurred pore-filling behavior, and instability at fluid
interfaces. We also show that knw decreases markedly at low Ca (log Ca
< −1.25), whereas kw undergoes negligible change with changing
Ca. An M–Ca–knw correlation diagram, displaying the simultaneous
effects of M and Ca, shows that they cause knw to vary by an order of
magnitude. The color map produced is useful to provide accurate
estimates of knw in reservoir-scale simulations and to help identify the
optimum properties of the immiscible fluids to be used in a geologic
reservoir.