An Experimental study of instability and viscous fingering in porous medium

Date
1983
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Abstract
Low recovery and inefficient sweep due to premature breakthrough of the displacing fluid at the producing well during displacement - miscible or immiscible, have long been recognized as the major problem areas for any enhanced oil recovery project involving fluid-fluid displacement techniques. This study presents an experimental investigation of the phenomena of instability and viscous fingering in fluid-fluid displacements in a porous medium as a function of viscosity ratio between the displaced and displacing fluids displacement rates at which the displacing fluid is being injected to the porous medium and interfacial tension between the displaced and displacing fluids. Studies have been carried out both for miscible and immiscible displacements in imbibition and drainage directions. Also studied was the miscible displacement of the non-wetting phase in the presence of high wetting phase saturation. Interpretation of the experimental findings in terms of the linear stability theory are presented. Photographic details of a representative set of runs are also presented to highlight the qualitative aspects exhibited by the fingers under different experimental conditions.
Description
Bibliography: p. 90-102.
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Citation
Sarma, H. K. (1983). An Experimental study of instability and viscous fingering in porous medium (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/13170