Dynamic wettability alteration in immiscible two-phase flow in porous media: Effect on transport properties and critical slowing down

The change in contact angles due to the injection of low salinity water or any other wettability altering agent in an oil-rich porous medium is modeled by a network model of disordered pores transporting two immiscible fluids. We introduce a dynamic wettability altering mechanism, where the time dependent wetting property of each pore is determined by the cumulative flow of water through it. Simulations are performed to reach steady-state for different possible alterations in the wetting angle ($θ$). We find that deviation from oil-wet conditions re-mobilizes the stuck clusters and increases the oil fractional flow. However, the rate of increase in the fractional flow depends strongly on $θ$ and as $θ\to 90^\circ$, a critical angle, the system shows critical slowing down which is characterized by two dynamic critical exponents.

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