Miscible viscous fingering involving viscosity increase by a chemical reaction with moderate Damköhler number

Abstract

In our previous study, we experimentally studied the effects of increased or decreased viscosity of the more-viscous liquid caused by chemical reactions at a very high Damköhler number, Da (defined as the ratio between a characteristic time of fluid motion and that of a chemical reaction), on miscible viscous fingering [Y. Nagatsu et al., “Experimental study on miscible viscous fingering involving viscosity changes induced by variations in chemical species concentrations due to chemical reactions,” J. Fluid Mech. 571, 475 (2007)]. In another study, we experimentally studied the effects of decreased viscosity caused by chemical reaction at a moderate Da on the fingering [Y. Nagatsu et al., “Effects of moderate Damköhler number on miscible viscous fingering involving viscosity decrease due to a chemical reaction,” J. Fluid Mech. 625, 97 (2009)]. In the present study, we investigated the effects of increased viscosity caused by chemical reaction at a moderate Da on the fingering in a radial Hele-Shaw cell. We observed that the present reaction decreased the area occupied by the fingering pattern around the injection hole. As a result, the fingering pattern became less dense following the reaction. The smaller the Da, the less significant the influence of the reaction on the fingering pattern. The present experimental results provide a coherent link between the results of earlier studies of miscible viscous fingering involving changes in the viscosity caused by chemical reactions.