Effect of Elasticity and Nonlinear Viscosity on Fingering Instability in Heterogeneous Porous Media

Abstract

AbstractThe Saffman‐Taylor instability of polymeric fluids flooding through saturated heterogeneous porous media is studied numerically. The displacement of a Newtonian fluid by a viscoelastic liquid is examined using a Hartley transformation and a fourth‐order Adams‐Bashforth technique. The flow is assumed to be miscible, and the Carreau‐Yasuda equation is used to model the shear‐thinning viscometric functions. The effects of different rheological properties and domain parameters on flow instability are studied in detail. It is found that a channeling regime is possible as the main difference between displacements through homogeneous and heterogeneous media.