Viscous finger wavelength degeneration in Hele-Shaw models

Journal Article · Wed Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1973 · Water Resour. Res.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/WR009i004p01039· OSTI ID:6731963

Gupta, S P; Greenkorn, R A; Varnon, J E

The displacement of one fluid by another (miscible or immiscible) in porous media is an important phenomenon that occurs in ground-water movement and oil reservoir engineering. Practical examples are waterflooding, solvent flooding, saltwater intrusion into coastal aquifers, and coning. Experiments are presented on viscous fingering in Hele-Shaw models. The use of Hele-Shaw cells facilitates fundamental studies of the viscous effects. For an immiscible displacement, the dispersive and the relative permeability phenomena are absent. This investigation covers the entire scope of finger development from the incipient fingers predicted by Chuoke's theory to a parallel-sided single finger. Results of several experiments run in a Hele-Shaw cell with and without local heterogeneities show the wavelength degeneration to one finger for different flow conditions and the initial number of fingers. It was also found that the rate of growth develops almost immediately, well before the fingers are parallel sided. The mechanisms of wavelength generation and degeneration are discussed. (14 refs.)

• Research Organization: Purdue Univ.
• OSTI ID: 6731963
• Journal Information: Water Resour. Res.; (United States), Journal Name: Water Resour. Res.; (United States) Vol. 9:4; ISSN WRERA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020300* -- Petroleum-- Drilling & Production
AQUIFERS
ENGINEERING
ENHANCED RECOVERY
FLUID FLOW
FLUID INJECTION
HYDRODYNAMIC MODEL
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MISCIBLE-PHASE DISPLACEMENT
OIL WELLS
PARTICLE MODELS
RECOVERY
RESERVOIR ENGINEERING
RESERVOIR ROCK
STATISTICAL MODELS
THERMODYNAMIC MODEL
VISCOSITY
WATER INFLUX
WATERFLOODING
WAVE PROPAGATION
WAVELENGTHS
WELLS