An experimental study of non-isothermal miscible displacements in a Hele-Shaw cell

Non-isothermal miscible displacements in a radial Hele-Shaw cell were experimentally investigated using a scheme in which room temperature liquids of relatively high viscosity were displaced by high-temperature (80 °C), less-viscous liquids. Fundamental characteristics have been presented regarding how the effect of a non-isothermal field on miscible displacement patterns varies in terms of factors such as the viscosity ratio of the more- and less-viscous liquids at 20 °C, M₂₀, the rate of an increase in the pattern’s area, R, and the gap width of the cell, b. The concept of area density was used to quantitatively evaluate the effect of the non-isothermal fields on the patterns. We have found that the effect of the non-isothermal field on the patterns does not monotonically vary with M₂₀ and b. In contrast, it increases with R in the present experimental condition. The experimental results can be explained by introducing an assumption in which heat is transferred mainly to the plates of the cell, in other words, the temperature of the more-viscous liquid remains constant, whereas that of the less-viscous liquid spatiotemporally decreases and the viscosity of it increases along with the temperature decrease. Visualization of non-isothermal field in the cell has been done by means of a thermo sheet and the results support the assumption mentioned above.