Interfacial stability of immiscible displacement in a porous medium

J. P. Stokes; D. A. Weitz; J. P. Gollub; A. Dougherty; M. O. Robbins; P. M. Chaikin; H. M. Lindsay

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.57.1718

Interfacial stability of immiscible displacement in a porous medium

J. P. Stokes, D. A. Weitz, J. P. Gollub, A. Dougherty, M. O. Robbins, P. M. Chaikin, H. M. Lindsay

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

We study patterns formed by the viscous fingering instability in a porous medium. The wetting properties of the medium have a profound influence on the width of the individual fingers and consequently on the shape of the overall pattern. If the displaced fluid preferentially wets the medium, the finger width is comparable to the pore size, independent of other parameters. In contrast, if the displacing fluid preferentially wets the medium, the finger width is much larger than the pore size, and, when normalized by the square root of the permeability, is found to scale with the capillary number approximately as NCa-12.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	1718-1721
Number of pages	4
Journal	Physical Review Letters
Volume	57
Issue number	14
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.57.1718
State	Published - 1986

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General Physics and Astronomy

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10.1103/PhysRevLett.57.1718

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title = "Interfacial stability of immiscible displacement in a porous medium",

abstract = "We study patterns formed by the viscous fingering instability in a porous medium. The wetting properties of the medium have a profound influence on the width of the individual fingers and consequently on the shape of the overall pattern. If the displaced fluid preferentially wets the medium, the finger width is comparable to the pore size, independent of other parameters. In contrast, if the displacing fluid preferentially wets the medium, the finger width is much larger than the pore size, and, when normalized by the square root of the permeability, is found to scale with the capillary number approximately as NCa-12.",

author = "Stokes, {J. P.} and Weitz, {D. A.} and Gollub, {J. P.} and A. Dougherty and Robbins, {M. O.} and Chaikin, {P. M.} and Lindsay, {H. M.}",

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AU - Stokes, J. P.

AU - Weitz, D. A.

AU - Gollub, J. P.

AU - Dougherty, A.

AU - Robbins, M. O.

AU - Chaikin, P. M.

AU - Lindsay, H. M.

PY - 1986

Y1 - 1986

N2 - We study patterns formed by the viscous fingering instability in a porous medium. The wetting properties of the medium have a profound influence on the width of the individual fingers and consequently on the shape of the overall pattern. If the displaced fluid preferentially wets the medium, the finger width is comparable to the pore size, independent of other parameters. In contrast, if the displacing fluid preferentially wets the medium, the finger width is much larger than the pore size, and, when normalized by the square root of the permeability, is found to scale with the capillary number approximately as NCa-12.

AB - We study patterns formed by the viscous fingering instability in a porous medium. The wetting properties of the medium have a profound influence on the width of the individual fingers and consequently on the shape of the overall pattern. If the displaced fluid preferentially wets the medium, the finger width is comparable to the pore size, independent of other parameters. In contrast, if the displacing fluid preferentially wets the medium, the finger width is much larger than the pore size, and, when normalized by the square root of the permeability, is found to scale with the capillary number approximately as NCa-12.

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Interfacial stability of immiscible displacement in a porous medium

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