Fluctuations in viscous fingering
Abstract
Our experiments on viscous (Saffman-Taylor) fingering in Hele-Shaw channels reveal finger width fluctuations that were not observed in previous experiments, which had lower aspect ratios and higher capillary numbers Ca. These fluctuations intermittently narrow the finger from its expected width. The magnitude of these fluctuations is described by a power law, Ca^{-0.64}, which holds for all aspect ratios studied up to the onset of tip instabilities. Further, for large aspect ratios, the mean finger width exhibits a maximum as Ca is decreased instead of the predicted monotonic increase.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0106580,
title = {Fluctuations in viscous fingering},
author = {Mitchell G. Moore and Anne Juel and John M. Burgess and W. D. McCormick and Harry L. Swinney},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0106580},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
Revised introduction, smoothed transitions in paper body, and added a few additional minor results. (Figures unchanged.) 4 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to PRE Rapid