Abstract:
The capacitance-resistance model (CRM) has been widely implemented to model and optimise waterflooding
and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques. However, there is a gap in the application of CRM
to analyse physical phenomena in porous media as well as the performance of EOR methods, such as
low-salinity water (LSW) flooding. The main purposes of this study were to investigate how changes in
time constant, as a CRM parameter, can represent physical phenomena in porous media such as
wettability alteration. Moreover, to show CRM is a reliable tool to use for interpretation of LSWprocess as
an EOR method. The results of different experimental/modelling studies in this research showed that in
CRM model time constant increases when the wettability alters to a water wetness state, whereby the
smallest time constant value is observed for the oil wet medium and the highest is observed for the
water wet medium. The cases with a gradual alteration in wettability show an increasing trend with the
dilution of the injection water. The core flooding data confirms the observed results of the simulation
approach. The increment in time constant values indicates the resistance against displacing fluid, which
is due to the wettability alteration of the porous medium, resulting in additional oil production. The
observations made during this research illustrate that the time constant parameter can be a powerful
tool for comparing different EOR techniques, since it is a good indication of the speed of impact of a
particular injection fluid on production.