Author(s)

C. Gallegos & A. A. Mammoli

Abstract

A two dimensional numerical study of viscous fingering in a porous medium C. M. Gallegos & A. A. Mammoli Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of New Mexico, USA Abstract In this paper, a two dimensional numerical study of viscous fingering in a porous medium is presented. A two-phase Newtonian fluid flow at low Reynolds numbers is considered. Surface tension between the two fluids is accounted for by use of the Young-Laplace equation. A direct boundary integral formulation is used for the basis of the numerical method with C1 continuous elements used for discretization. A number of time stepping and re-meshing strategies is discussed. Viscous fingering is studied as a function of the relative viscosity of the two fluids, the porosity of the formation, and the interfacial surface tension. It is found that re-meshing schemes must be used to obtain stable evolution of the interface and accurate results. 1 Introduction In order to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,

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