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Perturbing Hele-Shaw flow with a small gap gradient

Journal Article · · Physical Review A. General Physics; (United States)
; ; ;  [1]
  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260 (United States)

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.

DOE Contract Number:
FG02-84ER45131
OSTI ID:
7205826
Journal Information:
Physical Review A. General Physics; (United States), Journal Name: Physical Review A. General Physics; (United States) Vol. 45:4; ISSN 1050-2947; ISSN PLRAA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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