Local wettability reversal during steady-state two-phase flow in porous media

We study the effect of local wettability reversal on remobilizing immobile fluid clusters in steady-state two-phase flow in porous media. We consider a two-dimensional network model for a porous medium and introduce a wettability alteration mechanism. A qualitative change in the steady-state flow patterns, destabilizing the percolating and trapped clusters, is observed as the system wettability is varied. When capillary forces are strong, a finite wettability alteration is necessary to move the system from a single-phase to a two-phase flow regime. When both phases are mobile, we find a linear relationship between fractional flow and wettability alteration.