Velocity of viscous fingers in miscible displacement: Intermediate concentration

Abstract

We investigate one-phase flow in porous medium corresponding to a miscible displacement process in which the viscosity of the injected fluid is smaller than the viscosity in the reservoir fluid, which frequently leads to the formation of a mixing zone characterized by thin fingers. The mixing zone grows in time due to the difference in speed between its leading and trailing edges. The transverse flow equilibrium (TFE) model provides estimates of these speeds. We propose an enhancement for the TFE estimates, and provide its theoretical justification. It is based on the assumption that an intermediate concentration exists near the tip of the finger, which allows to reduce the integration interval in the speed estimate. Numerical simulations were conducted that corroborate the new estimates within the computational fluid dynamics model. The refined estimates offer greater accuracy than those provided by the original TFE model.