FRACTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF VISCOUS FINGERING

Viscous fingering is investigated by experiment in a 2-dimensional rad ial Kele-Shaw cell and Monte Carlo stochastic simulation. Experimental results show that viscosity ratio between the driving and driven flui ds determines whether or not viscous fingerings occur and that surface tension makes the viscous fingering patterns ''fatter''. Simulation p atterns are in good agreement with experimental ones. The fractal dime nsions of the viscous fingering patterns by both experiments and simul ations are about D-f = 1.2 - 1.6.