Quantifying mixing in viscously unstable porous media flows
- 16 December 2011
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review E
- Vol. 84 (6), 066312
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.84.066312
Abstract
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. Here we analyze the characteristic signature of the mixing process in viscously unstable flows, by means of high-resolution numerical simulations using a computational strategy that is stable for arbitrary viscosity ratios. We propose a reduced-order model of mixing, which, in the spirit of turbulence modeling and in contrast with previous approaches, recognizes the fundamental role played by the mechanical dissipation rate. The proposed model captures the nontrivial interplay between channeling and creation of interfacial area as a result of viscous fingering.Eni S.p.A. (Firm) (Multiscale Reservoir Science Project)Atlantic Richfield Co. (Chair in Energy StudiesKeywords
This publication has 77 references indexed in Scilit:
- Mixing, spreading and reaction in heterogeneous media: A brief reviewJournal of Contaminant Hydrology, 2010
- Particle formation in supercritical fluids—Scale-up problemChemical Engineering Research and Design, 2010
- Population genetics and range expansionsPhysics Today, 2009
- Microfluidics: Fluid physics at the nanoliter scaleReviews of Modern Physics, 2005
- Introduction: mixing in microfluidicsPhilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 2004
- Engineering Flows in Small Devices: Microfluidics Toward a Lab-on-a-ChipAnnual Review of Fluid Mechanics, 2004
- Mantle Mixing: The Generation, Preservation, and Destruction of Chemical HeterogeneityAnnual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 2002
- Microfabricated Multiphase Packed-Bed Reactors: Characterization of Mass Transfer and ReactionsIndustrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 2001
- Challenges and solutions to ultra-high-throughput screening assay miniaturization: submicroliter fluid handlingDrug Discovery Today, 2000
- The large-scale structure of convection in the Earth's mantleNature, 1990