Predicting the capillary imbibition of porous rocks from microstructure

The kinetics of capillary imbibition into porous rocks is studied experimentally and theoretically. The Washburn law is modified by introducing various corrections relating to the microstructure of the rocks, such as tortuosity, pore shape (obtained experimentally), and applying the effective medium approximation (EMA) in order to calculate the effective radius that defines the hydraulic conductance and the topology of the capillary imbibition. The application of the EMA shows that capillary imbibition is mainly produced in 1-D, and the pore structure is constituted by different pore throats in series, linked by chamber pores. The capillary process has been discussed as a function of their petrography and pore structure. Our study of the Washburn equation and the addition of correction factors for the pore structure allows a very accurate prediction of the weight rate.