Percolation without trapping: how Ostwald ripening during two-phase displacement in porous media alters capillary pressure and relative permeability

Conventional measurements of gas-liquid flow in subsurface gas storage and recovery do not allow for Ostwald ripening, significantly over-estimating the amount of trapping and hysteresis. When there is transport of dissolved species, local capillary equilibrium is achieved, and two-phase displacement in porous media needs to be modelled as percolation without trapping. A pore network model is used to demonstrate how to scale trapped saturation, capillary pressure and relative permeability to account for Ostwald ripening.