Rotationally induced fingering patterns in a two-dimensional heterogeneous porous medium

Area of Science:

• Fluid dynamics
• Complex systems
• Geophysics

Background:

• Rotating fluid flows in porous media exhibit complex interfacial fingering patterns.
• These patterns involve finger competition, pinch-off, and satellite droplet formation.
• Homogeneous porous media conditions simplify the study of these phenomena.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of permeability heterogeneities on interfacial fingering in rotating porous media.
• To understand how nonlinear pattern growth is altered by non-uniform permeability fields.
• To analyze the coupling between heterogeneity measures (variance and correlation length) and hydrodynamic parameters.

Main Methods:

• Intensive numerical simulations were employed.
• A diffuse-interface Darcy-Cahn-Hilliard model was utilized.
• A log-Gaussian distribution characterized the permeability field with variance 's' and correlation length 'l'.

Main Results:

• Permeability heterogeneities introduce significant changes to pattern formation dynamics.
• The variance (s) and correlation length (l) of the permeability field were found to influence pattern evolution.
• Coupling effects between heterogeneity measures and hydrodynamic parameters were observed.

Conclusions:

• Heterogeneities in rotating porous media fundamentally alter interfacial pattern dynamics.
• The study provides insights into the control of fingering phenomena through permeability variations.
• This research contributes to understanding complex flow behaviors in heterogeneous environments.