Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 72 (2010) 195205

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s e v i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / p e t r o l

Correlation for the effect of uid viscosities on counter-current

spontaneous imbibition
G. Mason a,, H. Fischer b, N.R. Morrow a, D.W. Ruth c
a
b
c

Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, WY 82071, USA
StatoilHydro, Sandslihaugen 30, Sandsli, Postboks 7200, 5020 Bergen, Norway
Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Manitoba, Manitoba, Canada, R3T 5V6

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 21 September 2009
Accepted 3 March 2010
Keywords:
spontaneous imbibition
viscosity ratio
production curve
relative permeability
counter-current imbibition
effective relative permeability

a b s t r a c t
Counter-current imbibition occurs when brine spontaneously displaces oil from a water-wet porous rock. In
experiments that attempt to simulate the production of oil from fractured reservoirs, the cumulative
production of oil is measured as a function of time. Even with wetting properties xed, usually at very strong
wetting by water, there are many variables, including the basic rock properties, the size and shape of the
core, which faces are open, and the water and oil viscosities. Experimental production versus time curves
have been correlated for many of the variables involved (Ma, S., Morrow, N.R. and Zhang, X., 1997, J. Pet. Sci.
Eng., 18, 165178). The origin of most of the terms in the correlation is theoretically understood and only the
viscosity term is essentially empirical. However, this term is signicant when relating laboratory
experiments to reservoir behaviour. Since the development of the Ma et al. correlation, data with a wider
range of viscosity ratio has been obtained by increasing the viscosity of the aqueous phase. Sequential
developments in the mathematical analysis of the effect of viscosity ratio in other correlations and their ease
of application are reviewed. A modication of the viscosity term in the Ma et al. correlation is presented that
gives close correlation of data for four orders of magnitude variation in liquid/liquid viscosity ratio and is
physically consistent with the extreme case when one phase is inviscid.
In mathematical modelling of spontaneous imbibition, it is often assumed when using the standard analysis, that
the effective relative permeabilities for each phase do not depend on viscosity ratio. Such an assumption leads to a
correlation that only ts the data for a limited range of viscosity ratios. However, the correlation of data over four
orders of magnitude variation in viscosity ratio by a function that only contains the viscosities implies that there is
a consistent dependency of effective relative permeabilities on viscosity ratio. The improved correlation is shown
to perform better than the standard analysis even with the relative permeability ratio optimized to give the
closest t to the experimental data. An assessment of how the relative permeability ratio varies with viscosity is
obtained by matching the standard mathematical model to the new empirical correlation.
2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Spontaneous imbibition occurs when surface energy conditions
cause the uid initially present in a porous medium (usually oil or air)
to be spontaneously displaced by a more-wetting uid (usually water
or brine). Counter-current imbibition can be an important mechanism
by which oil is displaced from the rock matrix (Morrow and Mason,
2001) and the function that relates the uid exchange between the
rock matrix and fractures is an important variable in modelling
displacement in fractured reservoirs (Kazemi et al., 1992; Behbahani
et al., 2006). As a rst step in unravelling the complexities that arise in
assessment of wettability from imbibition tests, much attention has
Corresponding author. Previous address: Department of Chemical Engineering,
Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE11 3TU, UK.
E-mail addresses: g.mason.lboro@ntlworld.com (G. Mason), HEFIS@statoil.com
(H. Fischer), morrownr@uwyo.edu (N.R. Morrow), druth@cc.umanitoba.ca (D.W. Ruth).
0920-4105/$ see front matter 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.petrol.2010.03.017

Downloaded from http://www.elearnica.ir

been given to very strongly wetted media with the porous media
completely saturated by the non-wetting phase. For this combination
of wetting and initial conditions, a saturation front can sometimes be
seen as the wetting uid imbibes into the pores, showing, at least, that
most of the invasion occurs as a frontal rather than global
displacement process (Hatiboglu and Babadagli, 2010). The driving
pressure is the capillary pressure produced by curved interfaces in the
pore space. For perfect counter-current imbibition, the ow of wetting
phase in one direction exactly equals the ow of non-wetting phase in
the opposite direction.
Most counter-current imbibition studies on reservoir rocks have
been with cylindrical cores. These are typically about 75 mm in length
and about 37 mm in diameter, although a variety of other cylindrical
sizes and other shapes have been used (Mattax and Kyte, 1962; Zhang
et al., 1996; Karimaie et al., 2006; Yildiz et al., 2006; Hatiboglu and
Babadagli, 2007). In fundamental studies, the initial condition is
usually complete saturation with oil. In some experiments, especially

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G. Mason et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 72 (2010) 195205

Nomenclature
a
Ai
b
c
C
F
K
krnw
krnwe
krnws
krw
krwe
krws

krw

krnw
L
Lc
m
n
Pc
P
c
Pcp
Pcp

r
rmean
Snw
Sw
Swo
t
tD
xi
Vtotal
VE

nw
w

FM
FWM
LH
LW
MFMR
MK
MMZ
RC
RMML
ZJKK
AFO
OEO
TEC

Arbitrary constant
Area open to imbibition in the ith direction (m2)
Arbitrary constant
Arbitrary constant
Arbitrary constant
Viscosity scale factor (Pa1 s1)
Permeability (m2)
Relative permeability to the non-wetting phase
Maximum relative permeability to the non-wetting
phase
Scaled relative permeability to the non-wetting phase
Relative permeability to the wetting phase
Maximum relative permeability to the wetting phase
Scaled relative permeability to the wetting phase
Average value of wetting phase relative permeability
Average value of non-wetting phase relative
permeability
Length (m)
Characteristic length (m)
Arbitrary constant
Total number of surfaces open to imbibition
Capillary pressure (Pa)
Capillary pressure at the saturation front (Pa)
Constant in capillary pressure function (Pa)
Scaling constant in capillary pressure function (Pa)
Tube radius (m)
Mean pore radius (m)
Non-wetting phase saturation
Wetting phase saturation
Wetting phase saturation at the open face
Time (s)
Dimensionless time
Distance from the open surface to the no-ow
boundary (m)
Total volume (m3)
Viscosity exponent, Standnes
Porosity
Viscosity (Pa s)
Viscosity of the non-wetting phase (Pa s)
Viscosity of the wetting phase (Pa s)
Interfacial tension (N/m)
Fischer and Morrow
Fischer, Wo and Morrow
Li and Horne
LucasWashburn
Mason, Fischer, Morrow, Ruth
Mattax and Kyte
Ma, Morrow and Zhang
Reis and Cil
Ruth, Mason, Morrow, Li
Zhou, Jia, Kamath and Kovscek
All Faces Open
One End Open
Two Ends Closed

measured as a function of time. In order to compare experimental

results for the effect of changing interfacial tension (), uid
viscosities (w and nw), sample shape, rock porosity (), permeability
(K) and the size, shape and boundary conditions, various scaling
groups for dimensionless time have been proposed. Alternatively, an
empirical approach which adjusts coefcients to a large body of data
can be adopted (Babadagli et al., 2009).
In some analyses that model spontaneous imbibition, it is assumed
that the effective relative permeabilities for each phase have single values
and do not depend on viscosity ratio. It will be shown that such an
assumption leads to a correlation that only ts the data for a limited range
of viscosity ratios. A new correlation is given that correlates data over four
orders of magnitude variation in viscosity ratio with a functional form
that only contains the two component viscosities. This implies that there
has to be a consistent dependency of effective relative permeabilities on
viscosity ratio. This dependency can be inferred by matching the standard
mathematical model to the new empirical correlation.
2. Correlation of spontaneous counter-current imbibition
Examples of the various dimensionless times that have been
proposed for correlation of imbibition data are listed in Table 1. The
rst equation (Lucas, 1918; Washburn, 1921) (LW) for co-current
Table 1
Correlation functions proposed by various authors.
Author

Dimensionless time

Lucas (1918)

tD;L
W =

Washburn
(1921)
Mattax and
Kyte (1962)
Reis and Cil
(1993)

r w t

s
K
tD;MK =
t

s
K 1

tD;RC = L12
2 Sw w
1
L2

Wang (1999)
Zhou, Jia,
Kamath, and
Kovscek
(2002)
Ruth, Mason,
Morrow, and
Li (2004)

s
K
1
p t
tD;MMZ = L2
c
w nw
s
K
1

p
t
tD;Wang = L2
0:25
c
0:75
w nw
s
K

t
tD;ZJKK = L12
c
2 w
nw
 + k

rnw

tD;RMML1 =

tD;RMML2

Li and Horne
(2006)

tD;LH =

1
L2c

1
s
K Pcp0 krwe Swe @
2k
k
rws
rnws


Swo
dSwAt

k
w
krnws + nw rwe krws 2Swo Sw
w krnwe

s


 
K
nw 1 =m m
= L12
C
1
+
C
t
1
2
c
w
w
c2 K 
L2c

Pc

t

nw
 + k
k
rw

Mason, Fischer,
Morrow, and
Ruth (new)

rnw

k
rw

Ruth, Mason,
Morrow, and
Li (2004)

Standnes
(2009)

t

nw
 + k
k
rw

Ma, Morrow,
and Zhang
(1997)

Fischer, Wo,
and Morrow
(2008)

those involving variation in wettability induced by adsorption from

crude oil, the experiment is often started with a low initial water
saturation in the core (Xie and Morrow, 2000). Even if the core is very
strongly wetted, the initial water saturation is an important variable
with respect to the imbibition process (Viksund et al., 1998).
Standard imbibition experiments are simple to perform. A core is
immersed in brine and the cumulative volume of expelled oil is

1 1
2 L2

rnw

s
K
ab

tD;FWM = L12
t
2
w + b nw
s
K

p
t
tD;Standnes = L12
1
VE
c
VE
w nw
tD;MFMR =

2
L2c

s
K

w 1


p
t
nw = w

G. Mason et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 72 (2010) 195205

imbibition into a tube with one uid of negligible viscosity indicates

that the rate of advance is inversely proportional to the distance
advanced by the interface and consequently the cumulative volume
imbibed is proportional to the square root of time. When scaled to
give a dimensionless time, the LW equation gives
tD;L
W

11
=
r
t
2 L2 w

tD;MK

1
= 2
L

s
K
t

1 K
1
Pc;swi 
w
L2 Snw
+

k
rw

nw

krnw

t

and krnw
are the effective relative permeabilities for the
where krw
counter owing phases (both taken as 0.1) and are assumed to be
independent of viscosity. Because the change in non-wetting phase
saturation is negative, Sw rather than Snw is used to keep this value
positive. Making the approximation that
Pc =

2
rmean

and rmean is related to the permeability and porosity by (Leverett,

1941)

rmean =

s
8K

Pc =

2K

and so, for linear imbibition,

tD;RC =

The correlation proposed by Mattax and Kyte (1962) has obvious

similarities to the LW equation (Eq. (1)). The dimensionless time for
imbibition is proportional to thepinterfacial
tension. The length is

related to the tube length. The K = term compensates for the

combined effect of microscopic pore geometry on viscous ow and
capillarity. It is proportional to the Leverett (1941) radius, and has
equivalence with the tube radius, r. The viscosity in the MK equation
can be specied as w or nw but with the severely limiting scaling
condition that the viscosity ratios be matched.
Using the standard analysis for two-phase ow in porous media,
Reis and Cil (1993) (RC) developed a scaling group for linear
imbibition. The standard analysis combines the Darcy equation for
both phases (with the sum of the pressure drop in each phase
equalling the capillary pressure) with a mass balance equation linking
the ow to the rate of advance of a front. By assuming that the
capillary pressure and saturation varied linearly with distance and
that the two relative permeabilities were constant and numerically
equal to 0.1, they obtained a complex expression that, in the present
variables, reduces to
tD;RC =

gives

where r is the tube radius and L is the tube length. In most instances,
this important relationship also holds for a large fraction of the time
during counter-current imbibition into porous media, even when
both uids are viscid. The LW equation quanties the most
signicant effect, namely that imbibition is initially very fast and
then slows dramatically.
Rapoport (1955) combined Darcy's law, a denition of capillary
pressure, and the continuity equation to develop the basic scaling
rules of two-phase ow. Mattax and Kyte (1962) (MK) extended
these rules to dene a dimensionless time for imbibition but with
restrictions on core shape and viscosity ratio, relative permeabilities,
capillary pressure characteristics, and the effect of gravity. The
correlation was tested for only a very limited number of experiments.
The MK dimensionless time is given by

197

1
L2

s
K 1


w
2 Sw 0:1
+

nw  t
0:1

Ma et al. (1997) (MMZ) examined all available imbibition data and

identied a factor that compensated for different boundary conditions, termed the characteristic length, Lc
Lc =

s
.
Vtotal

i=n
A
xi
i=1 i

where Vtotal is the total volume, Ai is the area open to imbibition in the
ith direction, xi is the distance travelled by the imbibition front from
the open surface to the no-ow boundary and n is the total number of
surfaces open to imbibition. Yildiz et al. (2006) showed that even for
large changes in the core shape and boundary conditions, the
characteristic length given by Eq. (8) works surprisingly well in
bringing the production data together on a log 10t scale.
Ma et al. (1997) also investigated variation of viscosity ratios, with
variation of the oil viscosity in particular. An empirical factor for the
dependence of imbibition on the viscosities of the two uids in the
range 1 b nw/w b 170 was determined which, was simply the square
root of the product of the viscosities. This resulted in the widely used
MMZ expression for dimensionless time:
tD;MMZ =

1
L2c

s
K

p t
w nw

This equation correlated all of the then currently available

imbibition data and was a signicant practical advance because all
of the terms were readily measurable.
2.1. Recovery of gas by spontaneous imbibition
In order to extend the viscosity ratio range, the viscosity of the
non-wetting phase has sometimes been reduced by using air as the
non-wetting phase with oil or water as the wetting phase. Recovery of
gas is more complex than oil because gas compressibility and
sometimes solubility can come into play (Li et al., 2003). For low
permeability porous media, evolution of air may be reduced, or not
occur at all, because the compressibility of the air changes the
imbibition process to a mix of co- and counter-current. Wang (1999)
conducted a series of experiments in which air was displaced from
cores by oils of different viscosity. This provided data for viscosity
ratios in the range 0.00001
b nw/ w b 0.005. The data so obtained
p
0:75 0:25 , the viscosity of the wetting phase
could be correlated by w
nw
p
being more heavily weighted than in the MMZ function w nw
obtained for oil and brine.
2.2. Correlation of recovery of either oil or gas by spontaneous imbibition
Zhou et al. (2002) pointed to the need to include relative
permeabilities in the analysis of imbibition data and showed that
results for gas and oil recovery from diatomite could be correlated if
estimates of effective relative permeabilities were included in the
calculation of tD, ZJKK (see Table 1). They observed signicant
dependence of residual saturations on viscosity. Effective wetting
phase relative permeabilities were assumed to be 0.14 for both oil

198

G. Mason et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 72 (2010) 195205

and gas even though residual saturation to gas (5%) was seven times
lower than that for the tested oils. In all, only a limited number of
cases were tested because of the complexity of the experiments.
Li and Horne (2006) essentially applied the same approach, taking
w nw
,
and Pc, but also included
k*rw k*rnw
gravity.
single, or average, values for

2.3. Relationship between standard analysis and empirical correlations

The differential form of the standard analysis of the ow of two
phases through a porous material requires that three functions,
namely capillary pressure and the relative permeabilities to the
wetting and non-wetting phases, all be single functions of
saturation (see Ruth et al., 2007). The standard analysis itself
represents a simplication because, in reality, capillary pressure
and the relative permeabilities are all hysteretic functions. The
operative functions are generally unknown, apart from an approximate functional form. Capillary pressure may even be regarded as
rate-dependent (Barenblatt et al., 2002) to give so-called nonequilibrium spontaneous imbibition (Le Guen and Kovscek, 2006).
However, provided saturation changes are not reversed, the three
functions (two relative permeability and one capillary pressure)
applicable to counter-current spontaneous imbibition should
sufce.
The Rapoport (1955) scaling conditions adopted by Mattax and
Kyte (1962) for spontaneous imbibition, require that the two relative
permeability functions be identical, and that the capillary pressure
function has the same shape when porous media are being compared.
However, while a representative capillary pressure, albeit simplistic,
is included in the MMZ correlation, the relative permeabilities to the
two phases are not. But the empirical correlation works for the
viscosities that were tested. The reason why it does was given by Ruth
et al. (2004). For linear counter-current imbibition, the standard
analysis predicts that, over much of the imbibition process, a selfsimilar front will develop. The key property of a self-similar front is
that, once the front is established, the shape of the front (saturation
versus distance) scales with the distance of advance of the leading
edge of the front. The simplest form of self-similar front is a pistonlike front that allows counterow of the displaced phase. Li et al.
(2003) showed that the self-similar front developed, and complemented the analysis with experiments. The existence of a self-similar
front implies that the driving capillary pressure and two-phase ow
properties are independent of the position of the front. As a
consequence, only single (or some kind of average) values of dynamic
imbibition capillary pressure and relative permeabilities are required,
and these average properties will be independent of the distance the
front has advanced. Because the rate of advance decreases markedly
with time, these average properties will also be independent of the
rate of frontal advance.
Ruth et al. (2004) went on to explore the effects of various
functional forms for capillary pressure and relative permeability on
the overall correlation and demonstrated that, over a restricted range
of viscosity ratio, the MMZ correlation was satisfactory. However, it
was predicted that for the extremes of viscosity ratio, the MMZ
correlation would fail. Ruth et al. (2004) gave two potential
correlation functions. If the functions for capillary pressure and
relative permeability are known then:

tD;RMML1

1
= 2
Lc

0
s 0
K Pcp krwe Swe @
Swo 
w

rnws

1
2krws krnws

dSw At
+ nwkkrwe krws 2Swo Sw
w rnwe

10
Two extreme values for this function are given as the viscosity
ratio tends to either zero or innity. The integral part of Eq. (10) is

different for these two values unless the two relative permeability
functions are symmetric, which they are not. Consequently, in any
correlation, the two relative permeability functions are involved.
Also, the factor allowing for the relevant relative permeabilities
cannot be a simple additive function of constants weighting the
effect of the two viscosities. In practice, details of the acting capillary
pressures and relative permeabilities are rarely, even if only
approximately, known. Ruth et al. (2004) gave another function
which reected the non-simple additive effects of the viscosity on
the relative permeabilities.

tD;RMML2 =

1
L2c

s


 m
1
K

=
C1 1 + C2 nw m
t
w
w

11

where C1, C2 and m are arbitrary constants. However, this correlation

factor still has too many adjustable parameters for routine
applications.
2.4. Imbibition curve shape matched viscosities
As will be seen by the data presented later in this paper, a
surprising feature of most imbibition curves is that, in general, on a log
scale they show only modest variation in shape. None of the
correlations discussed so far was designed to compensate for possible
differences in imbibition curve shape that can be expected for
different sample geometry and boundary conditions. An experimental
investigation of the variation of production curve shape with
boundary condition geometry was reported by Fischer and Morrow
(2006) for a wide range of matched viscosity liquid pairs. For the
standard boundary conditions that were tested, the variation in curve
shape was small. Analysis of the dependence of production curve
shape on sample shape and boundary conditions (Ruth et al., 2003;
Mason et al., 2009) showed that large differences in the imbibition
curve shape could only be obtained if unusual boundary conditions
are used (e.g. radial outwards imbibition into an annulus).
2.5. Experimental data for an extended range of variation of viscosities
and sample boundary conditions
In most imbibition tests of oil recovery, the wetting phase has
almost invariably been brine. In order to probe the various correlation
functions, and the ideas behind them, a greater range of viscosity ratio
was required. Addition of glycerol to the brine (wetting phase)
provides an almost ideal means of increasing the viscosity of the
aqueous phase (Fischer and Morrow, 2006).
Results given by broadening of the range of liquid/liquid viscosity
data (Fischer and Morrow, 2006) showed that correlation involving
p
the MMZ factor w nw required the introduction of a Viscosity Ratio
Factor (VRF) in order to t the data. Two VRF functions were given;
one when w/ nw b 14 and the other for 14 b w/ nw b 40. Recently
Standnes (2009), based on simulation using a diffusivity coefcient,
has suggested a range of powers for VRF's for viscosity ratios over the
range 0.001 b w/ nw b 60,000.
Examination of detailed sets of imbibition data for non-matched
viscosities and different boundary conditions (Fischer et al., 2008) led
to a theory based on the piston-like movement of fronts in which the
volume imbibed is transformed into the distance advanced by the
front. The relative permeability concept was replaced by a new
approach that dened the conductance to each phase in terms of area
and permeability. The transformation permitted direct comparison of
experiments with different boundary conditions. The distance of
frontal advance for All Faces Open ow was modelled as a
combination of radial and spherical ow.

G. Mason et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 72 (2010) 195205

The function for tD, now including a term to empirically compensate

for different viscosities and boundary conditions, was of the form

tD;FWM =

1
L2

s
K
ab

t
w + b2 nw

12

Optimisation of the t for the radial imbibition data was found to

give constant values of a = 0.0161 and b = 0.233 that gave close
prediction of results for the effect of viscosity ratio and boundary
conditions for Linear and All Faces Open results. Further testing of the
model against data for other types of porous media is needed. For a
and b to be constant, constant relative permeabilities are a sufcient
but not necessary condition.
2.6. Modied empirical correlation
One would expect that, as the viscosity of the non-wetting phase
becomes relatively small (as with air, or with a highly viscous wetting
phase, for example), then the viscosity factor would depend mainly on
the viscosity of the wetting phase. The main purpose of this paper is to
introduce a new simple empirical correlation function for the effect of
viscosity ratio that is an improvement on the MMZ factor. The new
p
function incorporates the expected requirement
and is w + w nw

r
nw
. An optional factor
or, in terms of the viscosity ratio, w 1 +
w
of one half can be included in order to make the value numerically
equal to the MMZ factor when
viscosity ratio is unity. The new

rthe
nw
factor thus becomes 12 w 1 +
. The new factor tends to w/2 as
w
the viscosity ratio nw/w tends to zero, as, for example when the nonp
wetting phase is air, and to w nw = 2, which is essentially the MMZ
nw
function, as the viscosity ratio
increases.
w
The new dimensionless time is

tD;MFMR

2
= 2
Lc

s
K

p t

w 1 + nw = w

13

3. Data sets
Although there are several data sets for counter-current imbibition
in the literature, by far the most comprehensive with respect to
variation of both the oil and aqueous phase viscosities are those of
Fischer and Morrow (2006), Fischer et al. (2008), obtained for very
strongly water-wet Berea sandstone. This sandstone was of comparatively low permeability compared to most of the Berea sandstone
taken, particularly by the oil production industry, as a standard rock.
Correlations of imbibition data are largely self-consistent for the low
permeability Berea sandstone but are offset with longer dimensionless times for imbibition with respect to the main body of correlated
data (Tong et al., 2001). However, this is primarily an issue of pore
structure rather than viscosity ratio.
In Fischer and Morrow (2006), the All Faces Open core plug
geometry and oils with viscosities of 4, 22 and 43cP were tested in
conjunction with brines with added glycerol to give viscosities
ranging from 1 to 1650cP. In terms of viscosity ratio, these results
cover the range 0.01 b nw/ w b 43. In Fischer et al. (2008), using
another type of low permeability Berea sandstone, other boundary
conditions were studied, including One End Open and Two Ends
Closed with oils having viscosities of 4, 63 and 173cP and brines with
viscosities ranging from 1 to 494cP. A few additional results were
reported for All Faces Open. These later results cover the range
0.008 b nw/ w b 173. The shapes of the production curves show
detectable differences for the different boundary conditions. Compar-

199

isons of the correlations for the effect of viscosity ratio are therefore
presented separately for All Faces Open (AFO), Radial (TEC), and
Linear (OEO) boundary conditions.
3.1. Comparison of correlations
The rst correlation group is that of Ma et al. (1997):

tD;MMZ

1
= 2
Lc

s
K

p t
w nw

14

The second factor is the one derived from standard two-phase ow

theory and will be referred to as Standard. It is convenient to make the
correlation based on the Standard theory agree with the MMZ factor
when two viscosities are equal. This gives

tD;Standard



s
1
+ 1
1 K
k*
k*
rnw
t
 rw
= 2
Lc
w
+ nw
k*
k*
rw
rnw

15

or, in terms of permeability ratios,

tD;Standard

s
1 K

= 2
Lc

1+

w 1 +

k*
rw

k*
rnw
nw k*
rw
w *
krnw

t

16

It is well recognized that, a priori, the effective relative permeabilities and hence the ratio of the two effective relative permeabilities
are unknown. To cast the Standard factor in the best possible light, the
Standard correlation is presented using an optimized xed value of
/krnw
= 0.12. Values of krw
/krnw
in the
relative permeability ratio of krw

range 0.1 b krw/krnw b 0.3 gave a good t to the AFO and TEC data. For
/krnw
= 0.12. The reason for the
the OEO data the best t was for krw
different ranges in sensitivity is the degree of scatter in the data OEO
has much less scatter (see Fig. 2c, for example) than AFO. The third
dimensionless time of the comparison is that of Eq. (13).
3.1.1. All Faces Open
A comparison of the Fischer and Morrow (2006) data using the MMZ,
Standard, and MFMR dimensionless times is shown in Fig. 1 for All Faces
Open data that covers the range 0.01 b nw/ w b 43. The MMZ correlation
(Fig. 1a) shows that the original viscosity factor correlates the data
over the range of nw/ w ratios for which it was originally developed, but
becomes increasingly inaccurate as the viscosity ratio is reduced. The
/krnw

Standard correlation using the optimized xed values for krw

gives an improved t (c.f. Fig. 1a, b). However, even without the benet
of an optimized relative permeability ratio, a much-improved t is given
by the newly proposed empirical correlation (Fig. 1c) even though it
does not directly include relative permeabilities.
3.1.2. Linear imbibition (One End Open)
The data of Fischer et al. (2008) for linear imbibition covering the
range 0.008 b nw/ w b 63 is compared using the three correlation
groups in Fig. 2. As for the All Faces Open data, the new correlation
factor (MFMR) is a signicant improvement over the MMZ empirical
correlation and over the Standard approach even with an optimized
value of the relative permeability ratio.
3.1.3. Radial imbibition (Two Ends Closed)
The data of Fischer et al. (2008) for radial imbibition (Two Ends
Closed) covering the range 0.008 b nw/ w b 173 is compared using the

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G. Mason et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 72 (2010) 195205

Fig. 1. Correlation of the all faces open data of Fischer and Morrow (2006) using three different functions to calculate the dimensionless time, tD. a) Ma et al. (1997) b) the Standard
theory using a best t relative permeability ratio and c) Mason, Fischer, Morrow, Ruth (new). The o and w numbers indicate the oil and waterglycerol (brine) viscosities in cP.
The new function (MFMR) does not include the relative permeability ratio but still gives the best correlation.

G. Mason et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 72 (2010) 195205

201

Fig. 2. Comparison of the three different correlations for tD for linear imbibition given by the One End Open boundary condition (Fischer et al., 2008). a) Ma et al. (1997) b) the best
Standard t and c) Mason, Fischer, Morrow, Ruth (new). The o and w numbers indicate the oil and waterglycerol (brine) viscosities in cP.

three correlation groups in Fig. 3. As for the All Faces Open data and the
One End Open data, the scaling group of Eq. (13) gives the best t
(Fig. 3c).

The close correlation given by the new empirical correlation

compared to that given by the Standard correlation indicates that the
assumption that the effective relative permeabilities are independent

202

G. Mason et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 72 (2010) 195205

Fig. 3. Comparison of radial imbibition (Fischer et al., 2008) using the three different correlation factors. a) Ma et al. (1997) b) the best Standard t and c) Mason, Fischer, Morrow,
Ruth (new). The o and w numbers indicate the oil and waterglycerol (brine) viscosities in cP.

G. Mason et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 72 (2010) 195205

203

Fig. 4. Variation of the ratio of the effective relative permeabilities behind the front with viscosity ratio when the Standard function (Eq. (16)) is equated with the MFMR (new)
function (Eq. (13).

of viscosity ratio is invalid. An estimate of how the ratio of the

effective relative permeabilities changes with viscosity ratio can be
obtained by equating the terms that compensate for the effect of
relative permeability and viscosity for the Standard and MFMR
correlations. This gives
!
1
1
1
2

r
17
+
=
w
nw
*
+ nw k*
k
rw
rnw
1
+

*
*
w
krw
krnw
w
which reduces to
k*rw
1
r
= 

k*rnw
1 + 2 nw
w

18

/krnw versus viscosity ratio nw/w for the range

A plot of krw
0.01 b nw/ w b 200 is shown in Fig. 4.
As the viscosity ratio increases, the ratio of the effective relative
permeabilities has to drop dramatically in order to make the two
functions agree.

4. General comparison of correlating factors for the effect

of viscosities
The new factor for the effect of viscosity on spontaneous
imbibition can be compared to previously used factors in a variety
of ways. The rst is to use the Viscosity Ratio Factor used by Fischer
p
and Morrow (2006) in conjunction with w nw to make a t to the
experimental data. Comparison with the MFMR, FM, and Standnes
values is shown in Fig. 5 using a logarithmic scale for the x-axis. It can
be seen that the agreement is quite close except for the Standnes 2
factor. This actually came from a gasliquid simulation and so the
disagreement is not surprising. Fischer and Morrow (2006) and
Standnes (2009) use a linear axis (their Figs. 17 and 14 respectively);
the comparison using this format is shown in Fig. 6.
The alternative approach is to follow Ruth et al. (2004) and make a
direct comparison of the term for viscosity in the various correlations.
This will be termed the Viscosity Scale Factor, F. From Eq. (9), the
viscosity scale factor for the MMZ function (1997) is
1
FMMZ = p
w nw

19

Fig. 5. Comparison of the Viscosity Ratio Factors versus viscosity ratio (logarithmic scale) of Fischer and Morrow (2006) and Standnes (2009) with the new factor given here
(MFMR).

204

G. Mason et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 72 (2010) 195205

Fig. 6. Comparison of the Viscosity Ratio Factors (linear scale) of Fischer and Morrow (2006) and Standnes (2009) with the new factor given here (MFMR).

Similarly for the Standard theory, but introducing a constant to

make it have the same value as FMMZ when nw = w = 1
FStandard =

w
k*
rw

1
+

nw
k*
rnw

1
1
+
*
*
krw
krnw

!
20

and krnw
are xed values over each imbibition curve but
where krw
may take different values depending on the viscosity ratio. Different
to krw
that is
authors give different values. It is the ratio of krnw
important (see Eq. (20)) rather than their absolute values.
The new factor given here has
FMFMR =

2

r
nw
w 1 +
w

21

where the 2 makes FMFMR = FMMZ at nw = w.

Wang (1999) gives a variation on the MMZ factor to t data for gas
production,
1
FWang = q
0:75 0:25
nw
w

and Ruth et al.'s (2004) factor gives

22

FRMML2 =


 
m
2
nw 1 =m m
1+
w
w

23

The Standnes factor is

1
FStandnes = q
VE 1
VE
w nw

24

where VE is the Viscosity Exponent that takes different values

depending on the viscosity ratio.
These functions are compared in Fig. 7 for w = 1. At rst sight the
spread seems to be large. However, the various authors identify the
ranges of data (or simulation) used to develop correlations and all
include an arbitrary factor. In Fig. 7 the arbitrary factor has been
adjusted so as to make all of the factors unity at equal viscosities.
Some factors include a further arbitrary constant. Considering all
these potential effects, the curves show trends that are in reasonable
agreement.

Fig. 7. Comparison of the various Viscosity Scale Factors that have been proposed. The lines only cover the ranges to which the various correlation functions are claimed to apply.

G. Mason et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 72 (2010) 195205

5. Conclusions
A readily applied viscosity scaling group with no arbitrary factors
and no explicit relative permeabilities is proposed that closely
correlates data for a wide range of aqueous and oleic phase viscosities.
Even though there is large variation in ow rate during an
and
imbibition experiment, the effective relative permeabilities (krw
k
rnw) can be considered constant during the frontal ow period of any
single imbibition experiment. When the uid viscosity ratio changes,
the effective relative permeabilities that are used in the standard
analysis do not remain constant but change quite signicantly. The
correlated data was used to infer the variation of relative permeability
ratio with viscosity ratio.
Acknowledgement
The authors acknowledge support from ARAMCO, British Petroleum, ChevronTexaco, Total, ConocoPhillips, Shell, StatoilHydro, the
Enhanced Oil Recovery Institute at the University of Wyoming, the
National Petroleum Technology Ofce of the U.S. Department of
Energy, the U.K. Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
and the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
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