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AIChE Journal, Vol.41, No.4, 749-763, 1995
Fractal Nature of Viscous Fingering in 2-Dimensional Pore Level Models
Use of saturation-dependent relative mobilities leads to linear flow; however, experiment and theory show that, in the limit of very large viscosity ratio, the flow is not linear but fractal. Generally, fractional flows and relative mobilities depend on both saturation and time. Use of a standard pore-level model of 2-D flow in the limit of infinite capillary number shows that this flow is fractal for large viscosity ratios (M = 10,000) and the saturation and fractional flows agree with the results of our general arguments. For realistic viscosities (M = 3 --> 300), our modeling of the unstable flow shows that, although the flows are initially fractal, they become linear on a time scale, tau, increasing as tau = tau(0) M(0.17). Once linear, the saturation front advances as x approximate to upsilon(0) M(0.068)t; the factor M(0.068) acts as a 2-D Koval factor.
Keywords:2-DIMENSIONAL POROUS-MEDIA;FINITE VISCOSITY RATIO;2-PHASE FLOW;SIMULATIONS;AGGREGATION;CROSSOVER;GROWTH