English

Weak solution of the Hele-Shaw problem: shocks and viscous fingering

Soft Condensed Matter 2010-07-20 v2 Mathematical Physics math.MP Exactly Solvable and Integrable Systems

Abstract

In Hele-Shaw flows, boundaries between fluids develop unstable viscous fingers. At vanishing surface tension, the fingers further evolve to cusp-like singularities. We show that the problem admits a {\it weak solution} where shock fronts triggered by a singularity propagate together with a fluid. Shocks form a growing, branching tree of a mass deficit, and a line distribution of vorticity where pressure and velocity of the fluid have finite discontinuities. Imposing that the flow remain curl-free at macroscale determines the shock graph structure. We present a self-similar solution describing shocks emerging from a generic (2,3)-cusp singularity -- an elementary branching event.

Cite

@article{arxiv.0812.0579,
  title  = {Weak solution of the Hele-Shaw problem: shocks and viscous fingering},
  author = {Seung-Yeop Lee and Razvan Teodorescu and Paul Wiegmann},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0812.0579},
  year   = {2010}
}

Comments

5 pages, 3 figures. To appear in the Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics, JETP Letters

R2 v1 2026-06-21T11:47:41.266Z