Viscous fingering during heavy-oil displacement by chemical solutions
A paper from our research group titled "Viscous fingering during heavy-oil displacement by chemical solutions: Emulsion instability and partial-miscibility" has been published on Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2021.109954
Abstract
The viscous fingering morphologies at a particular stage of emulsion displacements are observed to follow similar development patterns as that of the partially-miscible viscous fingering behavior (existent between the commonly studied fully miscible and immiscible systems). Chemically-induced viscous fingering before and after the finger droplet development resembling the partially-miscible fluid behavior is investigated using fractal dimensions and various -classic and modified-dimensionless scaling groups. We demonstrate, through the quantitative analysis using the empirical data collected from our previous experimental study, that the finger droplet formation morphologies observed in partially-miscible injection are indicative of an emulsion hydrodynamic instability behavior. The dominant parameters responsible for such droplet formation and their relationship to fractal dimension and hydrodynamic stability are mapped in a phase diagram with the original experimental images.
