Viscous fingering with permeability heterogeneity

Journal Article · Mon Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1992 · Physics of Fluids A; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.858227· OSTI ID:7114280

Tan, C; Homsy, G M ^[1]

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1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 (United States)

Viscous fingering in miscible displacements in the presence of permeability heterogeneities is studied using two-dimensional simulations. The heterogeneities are modeled as stationary random functions of space with finite correlation scale. Both the variance and scale of the heterogeneities are varied over modest ranges. It is found that the fingered zone grows linearly in time in a fashion analogous to that found in homogeneous media by Tan and Homsy (Phys. Fluids {bold 31}, 1330 (1988)), indicating a close coupling between viscous fingering on the one hand and flow through preferentially more permeable paths on the other. The growth rate of the mixing zone increases monotonically with the variance of the heterogeneity, as expected, but shows a maximum as the correlation scale is varied. The latter is explained as a resonance'' between the natural scale of fingers in homogeneous media and the correlation scale.

• DOE Contract Number: FG03-87ER13673
• OSTI ID: 7114280
• Journal Information: Physics of Fluids A; (United States), Journal Name: Physics of Fluids A; (United States) Vol. 4:6; ISSN 0899-8213; ISSN PFADE
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

661300* -- Other Aspects of Physical Science-- (1992-)
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
FLUID FLOW
HETEROGENEOUS EFFECTS
INCOMPRESSIBLE FLOW
MATERIALS
MIXING
PERMEABILITY
POROUS MATERIALS
STOCHASTIC PROCESSES
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
VISCOUS FLOW