Capillary fingering: Percolation and fractal dimension

We present experimental and theoretical results concerning immiscible displacements (drainage) in 2-dimensional permeable media. When capillary forces are predominant, the injected fluid presents very thin fingers and the Representative Elementary Volume concept cannot be used for describing the partial saturations. The purpose of this paper is to show how this classical concept can be replaced by a statistical approach based on fractal geometry.Communication presented at the International Symposium on the Stochastic Approach to Subsurface Flow, Montvillargenne 4–7 June 1985.