Abstract
A controlled perturbation is introduced into the Saffman-Taylor flow problem by adding a gradient to the gap of a Hele-Shaw cell. The stability of the single-finger steady state was found to be strongly affected by such a perturbation. Compared with patterns in a standard Hele-Shaw cell, the single Saffman-Taylor finger was stabilized or destabilized according to the sign of the gap gradient. While a linear stability analysis shows that this perturbation should have a negligible effect on the early-stage pattern formation, the experimental data indicate that the characteristic length for the initial breakup of a flat interface has been changed by the perturbation.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 2455-2460 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Physical Review A |
Volume | 45 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1992 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics