Lattice Boltzmann study of wettability alteration in the displacement of nanoparticle-filled binary fluids

• We proposed a hybrid computational approach for nanoparticle-filled binary fluids.
• Wettability alteration due to the nanoparticles in the displacement is considered.
• The wettability alteration shows a significant effect on the displacement efficiency.

Wettability alteration often occurs in the displacement of binary fluids with mobile nanoparticles, and has a significant influence on the displacement velocity. In this paper, a hybrid computational approach coupling the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) with Cellular Automata (CA) probabilistic model proposed to simulate this phenomenon. The particles are constrained to move on the lattice nodes, and so the present method avoids the complicated interpolation calculation in terms of particles motion. Effects of different parameters, such as particles wettability, particle–fluid interaction strengths and driven forces on the displacement efficiency are investigated. Numerical results indicate that the wettability alteration under different conditions is quite different, which finally lead to a significant discrepancy in displacement efficiency.