Viscosity scaling of fingering instability in finite slices with Korteweg stress

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the dynamic viscosity influences viscous fingering instability in miscible slices through linear stability analysis and simulations, revealing the significance of viscosity magnitude and similarities with immiscible fluids.

Contribution

It demonstrates the impact of dynamic viscosity on viscous fingering in miscible slices and confirms the relevance for immiscible fluids, highlighting the role of transient interfacial tension.

Findings

Viscosity magnitude affects VF instability in miscible slices.

Similarities between VF in immiscible and miscible slices are confirmed.

Results are applicable to multiphase viscous flow with additional stress terms.

Abstract

We perform linear stability analyses (LSA) and direct numerical simulations (DNS) to investigate the influence of the dynamic viscosity on viscous fingering (VF) instability in miscible slices. Selecting the characteristic scales appropriately the importance of the magnitude of the dynamic viscosity of individual fluids on VF in miscible slice has been shown in the context of the transient interfacial tension. Further, we have confirmed this result for immiscible fluids and manifest the similarities between VF in immiscible and miscible slices with transient interfacial tension. In a more general setting, the findings of this letter will be very useful for multiphase viscous flow, in which the momentum balance equation contains an additional stress term free from the dynamic viscosity.