Stabilization of viscous fingering in a partially miscible system

Abstract

Viscous fingering (VF) occurs when a less viscous fluid displaces a more viscous one in porous media. It has been recently reported that a partially miscible VF has experimentally shown to change to multiple droplets pattern. However, in the present study, we have experimentally shown a partially miscible VF can have the potential to stabilize the interface more effectively, namely, leading to circular-like pattern in a radial geometry. This is caused by a high rate of the spinodal decomposition.