Simulation of drainage and imbibition in a random packing of equal spheres

Journal Article · Fri Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1995 · Journal of Colloid and Interface Science

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1006/jcis.1995.0024· OSTI ID:160812

Mason, G ^[1]; Mellor, D W ^[2]

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1. Loughborough Univ. of Technology (United Kingdom). Dept. of Chemical Engineering
2. BP Research center, Sunbury-on-Thames (United Kingdom)

The sizes and connections of the pores in a network of tetrahedral pores have been derived using the center coordinates of 3,367 randomly close-packed equal spheres. The center coordinates of each sphere were measured by J.L. Finney, who took apart an actual packing of spheres. A.C. Wright mathematically divided the packing into 14,870 irregular tetrahedra by joining the center coordinates of spheres which were geometric neighbors. The present work uses their data in a different way and analyzes the capillary properties of the individual tetrahedral pores together with the network effects of the combination of pores during simulated drainage and imbibition. The meniscus drainage curvatures of the faces (bonds of the network) of the pores were calculated using the Mayer and Stowe-Princen method using a value of zero for the contact angle. Imbibition curvatures of the cavities (sites on the network) were initially estimated from the Haines insphere approximation. However, the constraint that a tetrahedral pore can, in isolation, at best show no hysteresis enables a new approximation to be proposed for the imbibition curvature of cavities formed by spheres. Drainage was simulated by using the meniscus curvature associated with each bond in conjunction with the bond network to determine whether a pore actually drained. Imbibition used the site curvatures. The results indicated that the tetrahedral (diamond) lattice is a good approximation to the pore network structure in a random packing of spheres. However, neither the bonds nor the sites are randomly distributed on the network. In drainage the bonds cooperate so as to make drainage harder. Conversely, in imbibition the sites cooperate so as to make imbibition easier. Thus the degree of nonrandomness in the location of the pore sizes in the packing produces an effect in drainage opposite to that produce in imbibition.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 160812
• Journal Information: Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Journal Name: Journal of Colloid and Interface Science Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 176; ISSN 0021-9797; ISSN JCISA5
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
CAPILLARY FLOW
DRAINAGE
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
PORE STRUCTURE
POROUS MATERIALS