LIQUID-LIQUID DISPLACEMENT FLOWS IN A HELE-SHAW CELL INCLUDING NON-NEWTONIAN EFFECTS / DESLOCAMENTO DE LÍQUIDOS EM CÉLULA DE HELE-SHAW CONSIDERANDO EFEITOS NÃO NEWTONIANOS

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2010

RESUMO

This work studied the displacement of fluids in porous media using a Hele-Shaw cell. Specifically, was investigated experimentally the displacement of a non-Newtonian fluid by a Newtonian in a rectangular Hele-Shaw cell. The Saffman-Taylor or viscous fingering instability occurs when one fluid pushes a more viscous one, and a Hele-Shaw is a convenient tool to the phenomenon observation. Applications include displacement of heavy crude oil in reservoirs, drilling fluid invasion through porous media, fracture conductivity, polymer processing, hydrology and filtration. The Saffman-Taylor instability has been extensively studied for Newtonian and non-Newtonian liquids displaced by air in a Hele-Shaw cell. However displacement flows involving two liquids of comparable viscosity (nonzero viscosity ratio) have received very little attention. It was presented the details of construction of a Hele-Shaw applicable to a liquid-liquid displacement. The evolution of the shape of the interface was analyzed through a digital camera, as a function of the geometric, dynamic and rheological parameters. From tracing the shape of the interface, was determined the displacement efficiency. Thus, it was defined the spectrum of situations in which there is formation of fingers and plugs relating to displacement of xanthan gum by a mineral oil. There is no universal convention in the literature for presenting the results so a original contribution concerns the proposed dimensionless parameters. The main parameters that govern this flow are the dimensionless flow rate, the rheological capillary number and the behavior index of xanthan gum. It was observed that for a constant value of the behavior index and for a rheological capillary number of magnitude of 10¿1, the displacement efficiency increases with the dimensionless flow rate, because the viscosity ratio decreases.

ASSUNTO(S)

celula de hele-shaw instabilidade de saffman-taylor estabilidade de interface

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