Immiscible Hele-Shaw displacement with constant viscosity fluids

Abstract

We study the interface stability of immiscible displacement in a Hele-Shaw cell or porous medium, with applications to secondary oil recovery. A middle region of constant length L exists between the displacing and displaced fluids (water and oil), filled by a third fluid with an unknown constant viscosity μ. The linear stability analysis is performed and the growth constant σ of perturbations is estimated in terms of L, μ, and water and oil viscosities. The new element is a lower-upper estimate of σ in terms of L.