Hamiltonian formulation towards minimization of viscous fluid fingering

Abstract

A variational approach has been recently employed to determine the ideal time-dependent injection rate Q(t) that minimizes fingering formation when a fluid is injected in a Hele-Shaw cell filled with another fluid of much greater viscosity. However, such a calculation is approximate in nature, since it has been performed by assuming a high capillary number regime. In this work, we go one step further, and utilize a Hamiltonian formulation to obtain an analytical exact solution for Q(t), now valid for arbitrary values of the capillary number. Moreover, this Hamiltonian scheme is applied to calculate the corresponding injection rate that minimizes fingering formation in a uniform three-dimensional porous media. An analysis of the improvement offered by these exact injection rate expressions in comparison with previous approximate results is also provided.