It refers to the absorption of water by general surface. It takes place both in living and dead cells. It takes place in solids, liquids and gases.

The process of absorbing a wetting phase into a porous rock. Imbibition is important in a waterdrive reservoir because it can advance or hinder water movement, affecting areal sweep. Spontaneous imbibition refers to the process of absorption with no pressure driving the phase into the rock.

“Drainage” refers to the decreasing saturation of a wetting phase. “Imbibition” refers to the increasing wetting-phase saturation.

The spontaneous taking up of a preferential wetting fluid into a porous medium with the simultaneous expulsion of the contained fluid is termed imbibition. One of the many physical imbibition processes is the production of oil by the taking up of water into a water-wet reservoir rock.

Imbibition is the displacement of nonwetting phase by wetting phase. In a strongly water-wet rock, water rapidly imbibes into the rock and displaces the nonwetting phase, oil. However, the majority of reservoir rocks are not strongly water-wet.

Imbibition is a special type of diffusion that takes place when water is absorbed by solids-colloids causing an increase in volume. Water surface potential movement takes place along a concentration gradient; some dry materials absorb water.

Capillary pressure, Pc, is defined as the difference in pressure across the interface between two immiscible fluids, say oil and water, in the reservoir. It can be defined as: (5.33) This pressure difference is generated by the curvature at an interface of wetting and nonwetting fluids.

Capillaroscopy has been used to visualize capillaries in the skin in 2D, and has been reported to observe an average range of capillary pressure of 10.5 to 22.5 mmHg in humans, and an increase in pressure among people with type 1 diabetes and hypertension.

imbibition occurs in oil reservoirs when water displaces oil, unlike drainage where the oil phase displaces the water. When the rock is oil-wet, in order to change the wettability and displace the oil with water, water must be forced into the rock. The process is called a forced imbibition.

Imbibition is a reversible process whereas diffusion is an irreversible process. Imbibition is the absorption of water by general surface whereas diffusion is the movement of solid, liquid or gaseous molecules from the region of higher concentration to lower concentration.

When dry imbibant (with high negative water potential) comes in contact with water (maximum water potential), a steep gradient of water potential is created and water diffuses rapidly from its higher potential into the imbibant. 4. Heat of Wetting: Energy in the form of heat is released during imbibition.

Imbibition is a type of diffusion where the water is absorbed by the solid particles called colloids, causing an enormous increase in volume. Here, the solid substances are referred to as Imbibants and the imbibed liquid is referred to as imbibate. E.g. the absorption of water by seed or dry wood.