The immiscible displacement of a fluid by another one inside a porous medium produces different types of patterns depending on the capillary number Ca and viscosity ratio M. At high Ca, viscous fingers resulting from the viscous instability between fluid-fluid interfaces are believed to exhibit the same Laplacian growth behavior as viscously-unstable fingers observed in Hele-Shaw cells by Saffman and Taylor [1], or as diffusion limited aggregates (DLA) [2]. I.e., the interface velocity depends linearly on the local gradient of the physical field that drives the growth process (for two-phase flow, the pressure field). However, steady-state two-phase flow in porous media is known to exhibit a regime for which the flow rate depends as a non-linear power law on the global pressure drop, due to the disorder in the capillary barriers at pore throats. A similar nonlinear growth regime was also evidenced experimentally for viscously-unstable drainage in two-dimensional porous media 20 years ago [3]. Here we revisit this flow regime using dynamic pore-network modeling, and explore the non-linearity in the growth properties. We characterize the previously-unstudied dependencies of the statistical finger width and nonlinear growth law's exponent on Ca, and discuss quantitatively, based on theoretical arguments, how disorder in the capillary barriers controls the growth process' non-linearity, and why the flow regime crosses over to Laplacian growth at sufficiently high Ca. In addition, the statistical properties of the fingering patterns are compared to those of Saffman-Taylor fingers, DLA growth patterns, and the results from the aforementioned previous experimental study.
In this paper, the interaction between two immiscible fluids with a finite mobility ratio is investigated numerically within a Hele-Shaw cell. Fingering instabilities initiated at the interface between a low viscosity fluid and a high viscosity fluid are analysed at varying capillary numbers and mobility ratios using a finite mobility ratio model. The present work is motivated by the possible development of interfacial instabilities that can occur in porous media during the process of CO$_2$ sequestration, but does not pretend to analyse this complex problem. Instead, we present a detailed stu…
Viscous fingering is a well-known hydrodynamic instability that sets in when a less viscous fluid displaces a more viscous fluid. When the two fluids are miscible, viscous fingering introduces disorder in the velocity field and exerts a fundamental control on the rate at which the fluids mix. We present a fluid dynamics video of the mixing process in a viscously unstable flow, generated from a high-resolution numerical simulation using a computational strategy that is stable for arbitrary viscosity ratios. We develop a two-equation dynamic model of concentration variance and mean dissipation r…
We present in detail a set of algorithms to carry out fluid displacements in a dynamic pore-network model of immiscible two-phase flow in porous media. The algorithms are general and applicable to regular and irregular pore networks in two and three dimensions with different boundary conditions. Implementing these sets of algorithms, we describe a dynamic pore-network model and reproduce some of the fundamental properties of both the transient and steady-state two-phase flow. During drainage displacements, we show that the model can reproduce the flow patterns corresponding to viscous fingerin…
Viscous fingering patterns form in confined geometries at the interface between two fluids as the lower-viscosity fluid displaces the one with higher viscosity. Previous studies have examined the most unstable wavelength of the patterns that form using both linear-stability analysis and the dynamics of finger growth in the nonlinear regime. Interesting differences in dynamics have been seen between rectilinear and radial geometries as well as between fluid pairs that are immiscible (with interfacial tension) or miscible (with negligible interfacial tension). This paper reports measurements of …
When an aqueous drop contacts an immiscible oil film, it displays complex interfacial dynamics. Upon contact the oil spreads onto the drop's liquid-air interface, first forming a curvature that drives an apparent drop spreading motion and later fully engulfing the drop. We study this flow using both 3-phase Lattice-Boltzmann simulations based on the conservative phase field model and experiments. Inertially and viscously limited dynamics are explored using the Ohnesorge number $Oh$ as a function of $R/H$, the ratio between the initial drop radius $R$ and the film height $H$. Both regimes show …
The displacement of a more viscous fluid by a less viscous one in a quasi-two dimensional geometry leads to the formation of complex fingering patterns. This fingering has been characterized by a most unstable wavelength, $λ_c$, which depends on the viscosity difference between the two immiscible fluids and sets the characteristic width of the fingers. How the finger length grows after the instability occurs is an equally important, but previously overlooked, aspect that characterizes the global features of the patterns. As the lower viscosity fluid is injected, we show that there is a stable …
We examine the transport in a homogeneous porous medium of a finite slice of a solute which adsorbs on the porous matrix following a Langmuir adsorption isotherm and can influence the dynamic viscosity of the solution. In the absence of any viscosity variation, the Langmuir adsorption induces the formation of a shock layer wave at the frontal interface and of a rarefaction wave at the rear interface of the sample. For a finite width sample, these waves interact after a given time that varies nonlinearly with the adsorption properties to give a triangle-like concentration profile in which the m…
Viscous fingering patterns can form at the interface between two immiscible fluids confined in the gap between a pair of flat plates; whenever the fluid with lower viscosity displaces the one of higher viscosity the interface is unstable. For miscible fluids the situation is more complicated due to the formation of interfacial structure in the thin dimension spanning the gap. Here we study the effect of the inherent diffusion between the two miscible fluids on this structure and on the viscous fingering patterns that emerge. We discover an unexpected transition separating two distinct regimes …
We use a lattice gas cellular automata model in the presence of random dynamic scattering sites and quenched disorder in the two-phase immiscible model with the aim of producing an interface dynamics similar to that observed in Hele-Shaw cells. The dynamics of the interface is studied as one fluid displaces the other in a clean lattice and in a lattice with quenched disorder. For the clean system, if the fluid with a lower viscosity displaces the other, we show that the model exhibits the Saffman-Taylor instability phenomenon, whose features are in very good agreement with those observed in re…
Viscous and gravitational fingering refer to flow instabilities in porous media that are triggered by adverse mobility or density ratios, respectively. These instabilities have been studied extensively in the past for 1) single-phase flow (e.g., contaminant transport in groundwater, first-contact-miscible displacement of oil by gas in hydrocarbon production), and 2) multi-phase immiscible and incompressible flow (e.g., water-alternating-gas (WAG) injection in oil reservoirs). Fingering in multiphase compositional and compressible flow has received much less attention, perhaps due to its high c…
Viscous fingering occurs in the flow of two immiscible, viscous fluids between the plates of a Hele-Shaw cell. Due to pressure gradients or gravity, the initially planar interface separating the two fluids undergoes a Saffman-Taylor instability and develops finger-like structures. When one of the fluids is a ferrofluid and a perpendicular magnetic field is applied, the labyrinthine instability supplements the usual viscous fingering instability, resulting in visually striking, complex patterns. We consider this problem in a rectangular flow geometry using a perturbative mode-coupling analysis.…
In this paper, the interfacial motion between two immiscible viscous fluids in the confined geometry of a Hele-Shaw cell is studied. We consider the influence of a thin wetting film trailing behind the displaced fluid, which dynamically affects the pressure drop at the fluid-fluid interface by introducing a nonlinear dependence on the interfacial velocity. In this framework, two cases of interest are analyzed: The injection-driven flow (expanding evolution), and the lifting plate flow (shrinking evolution). In particular, we investigate the possibility of controlling the development of fingeri…
In this paper we study the effects of dynamic wetting on the immiscible displacement of a high viscosity fluid subject to the radial injection of a less viscous fluid in a Hele-Shaw cell. The displaced fluid can leave behind a trailing film that coats the cell walls, dynamically affecting the pressure drop at the fluid interface. By considering the non-linear pressure drop in a boundary element formulation, we construct a Picard scheme to iteratively predict the interfacial velocity and subsequent displacement in finite mobility ratio flow regimes. Dynamic wetting delays the onset of finger bi…
Newtonian fluid invasion into a Yield-Stress Fluid-Saturated Medium
Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, FAST（巴黎萨克雷大学，法国国家科学研究中心，FAST）；PoreLab, Department of Physics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology（孔隙实验室，挪威科技大学物理系）；Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, LPTMS（巴黎萨克雷大学，法国国家科学研究中心，LPTMS）；PoreLab, Department of Physics, University of Oslo（孔隙实验室，奥斯陆大学物理系）
Immiscible fluid-fluid displacement in porous media is of great importance in many engineering applications, such as enhanced oil recovery, agricultural irrigation, and geologic CO2 storage. Fingering phenomena, induced by the interface instability, are commonly encountered during displacement processes and somehow detrimental since such hydrodynamic instabilities can significantly reduce displacement efficiency. In this study, we report a possible adjustment in pore geometry which aims to suppress the capillary fingering in porous media with hierarchical structures. Through pore-scale simulat…
We investigate the formation of fingered flow in dry granular media under simulated rainfall using a quasi-2D experimental set-up composed of a random close packing of mono-disperse glass beads. Using controlled experiments, we analyze the finger instabilities that develop from the wetting front as a function of fundamental granular (particle size) and fluid properties (rainfall, viscosity).These finger instabilities act as precursors for water channels, which serve as outlets for water drainage. We look into the characteristics of the homogeneous wetting front and channel size as well as esti…
We present a systematic, quantitative assessment of the impact of pore size disorder and its interplay with flow rates and wettability on immiscible displacement of a viscous fluid. Pore-scale simulations and micromodel experiments show that reducing disorder increases the displacement efficiency and compactness, minimizing the fluid-fluid interfacial area, through (i) trapping at low rates and (ii) viscous fingering at high rates. Increasing the wetting angle suppresses both trapping and fingering, hence reducing the sensitivity of the displacement to the underlying disorder. A modified capil…
The moving contact-line problem is of both theoretical and practical interest. The dynamic contact angle changes with the capillary number defined by the contact-line speed, and the correlation also depends on the equilibrium contact angle measured at the static state. This correlation is usually required as an input to the traditional solvers based on the Navier-Stokes-like equations, but it is simulated as an output in the current study using the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) in a displacement process of two-immiscible fluids. The macroscopic theory and the molecular dynamics (MD) simulatio…
Liquid-infused membranes inspired by slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces (SLIPS) have been recently introduced to membrane technology. The gating mechanism of these membranes is expected to give rise to anti-fouling properties and multi-phase transport capabilities. However, the long-term retention of the infusion liquid has not yet been explored. To address this issue, we investigate the retention of the infusion liquid in slippery liquid-infused membranes (SLIMs) via liquid-liquid displacement porometry (LLDP) experiments combined with microscopic observations of the displacement mechani…
The dynamics of the interface between two immiscible fluids in a rotating Hele-Shaw cell are studied experimentally, theoretically and by phase-field simulations of the H-S equations. As the central, denser fluid is centrifuged, it forms fingering patterns with long, thin radial filaments ended by a droplet, alternating with incoming fingers of the outer fluid. Simulations show the length (width) of the filaments to grow (decay) roughly exponentially, and the incoming finger tips to asymptotically approach a finite radius for n-fold symmetric initial conditions; these thus tend to a stationary…
In disordered porous media, two-phase flow of immiscible fluids (biphasic flow) is organized in patterns that sometimes exhibit fractal geometries over a range of length scales, depending on the capillary, gravitational and viscous forces at play. These forces, as well as the boundary conditions, also determine whether the flow leads to the appearance of fingering pathways, i.e., unstable flow, or not. We present here a short review of these aspects, focusing on drainage and summarizing when these flows are expected to be stable or not, what fractal dimensions can be expected, and in which ran…
The Saffman-Taylor problem addresses the morphological instability of an interface separating two immiscible, viscous fluids when they move in a narrow gap between two flat parallel plates (Hele-Shaw cell). In this work, we extend the classic Saffman-Taylor situation, by considering the flow between two curved, closely spaced, concentric spheres (spherical Hele-Shaw cell). We derive the mode-coupling differential equation for the interface perturbation amplitudes and study both linear and nonlinear flow regimes. The effect of the spherical cell (positive) spatial curvature on the shape of the …
