Viscous fingering in heterogeneous porous media

Thesis/Dissertation · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1988

OSTI ID:6976111

Araktingi, U G

The author describes a new approach to modeling of viscous fingering based on random-walk techniques, and uses the new model to examine the growth of viscous fingers in heterogeneous porous media. The fluid is represented as a discrete set of particles, each particle assuming a unit volume. The movement of the particles through the porous medium is the result of two types of motion. One motion is along the flow streamlines. The second is random motion, governed by scaled probability curves related to flow length and the longitudinal and transverse dispersion coefficients. The resulting algorithm was validated against one-dimensional analytical solutions for miscible displacements unit viscosity ratio to show that appropriate longitudinal and transverse Peclet numbers are recovered and that effects of numerical dispersion are small. Next, model calculations were compared with experimental results for miscible displacements in horizontal beadpacks and in vertical sections with mobility ratios ranging between 1.85 and 375 and viscous to gravity numbers ratios from 89 to 200,000. Stochastically generated permeability fields were used to study the interaction between viscous fingering and heterogeneities in the porous media. The physical process involved in these unstable displacements ere examined by analysis of velocities of averaged concentrations and growth of the mixing zone.

• Research Organization: Stanford Univ., CA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6976111
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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ALGORITHMS
ENGINEERING
FLOW MODELS
FLOW RATE
FLUID FLOW
FLUIDS
MATERIALS
MATHEMATICAL LOGIC
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
PERMEABILITY
POROUS MATERIALS
RESERVOIR ENGINEERING
RESERVOIR FLUIDS
VISCOSITY