Fjords in viscous fingering: Selection of width and opening angle
Pattern Formation and Solitons
2007-05-23 v4 Soft Condensed Matter
Fluid Dynamics
Abstract
Our experiments on viscous fingering of air into oil contained between closely spaced plates reveal two selection rules for the fjords of oil that separate fingers of air. (Fjords are the building blocks of solutions of the zero-surface-tension Laplacian growth equation.) Experiments in rectangular and circular geometries yield fjords with base widths 1/2 lambda_c, where lambda_c is the most unstable wavelength from a linear stability analysis. Further, fjords open at an angle of 8.0 degrees plus or minus 1.0 degree. These selection rules hold for a wide range of pumping rates and fjord lengths, widths, and directions.
Cite
@article{arxiv.nlin/0510049,
title = {Fjords in viscous fingering: Selection of width and opening angle},
author = {Leif Ristroph and Matthew Thrasher and Mark B. Mineev-Weinstein and Harry L. Swinney},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:nlin/0510049},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
4 pages, 4 figures. The APS version of this article is available at http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRE/v74/e015201