Generalized scaling of spontaneous imbibition data for strongly water-wet systems

Mass transfer between fractures and matrix blocks is critical to oil recovery by waterflooding in fractured reservoirs. A scaling equation has been used for rate of oil recovery by spontaneous imbibition and presented their results as oil recovery vs. dimensionless time. Many conditions apply to this scaling equation, including identical core sample shapes and fluid viscosity ratios. Recent investigation by experiment of these two factors has resulted in a more generalized scaling equation for strongly water-wet systems with a general definition of characteristic length and a viscosity ratio term included in the definition of dimensionless time. In this paper, published data on oil recovery by imbibition have been analyzed and correlated through application of the new definition. These data sets were for different porous media, core dimensions, boundary conditions, and oil and water viscosities. All of the systems were strongly water-wet. The generalized correlation was fitted closely by an empirical mass transfer function with the new definition of dimensionless time as the only parameter.