On the selection of Saffman-Taylor fingers in a tapered Hele-Shaw cell

Abstract

We present an analytical study for predicting the finger width of the Saffman-Taylor finger in a tapered Hele-Shaw cell. We consider a rectilinear geometry with a constant depth gradient and apply analytical techniques of singular perturbation analysis and WKB approximation to derive an expression for the finger selection mechanism for such tapered Hele-Shaw cells with small depth gradients. We establish \[ \Lambda - \frac{1}{2} \sim f(\alpha) Ca_m^{2/3} \quad \mbox{as} \quad Ca_m \rightarrow 0, \;\;\; \mbox{and} \;\;\; \lvert \alpha \rvert \ll 1.\] Here, $\Lambda$ is the dimensionless finger width, $Ca_m$ denotes the modified Capillary parameter, and $f(\alpha)$ is a linear function of the gap gradient $\alpha$, such that $f(\alpha = 0) = 1$ recovering the results of parallel Hele-Shaw cell (Hong and Langer \cite{hong1986analytic}, Combescot \emph{et al.} \cite{Combescot1986}, Shraiman \cite{shraiman1986velocity}). Our findings indicate that the Hele-Shaw cell gap gradient plays a crucial role in determining $\Lambda$, allowing for control over fingering instabilities such that the single-finger steady state can be stabilised or destabilised depending on the sign of the gradient, compared to the standard Hele-Shaw cell. The theoretical estimates reveal excellent agreement with experimental finger-width data and predictions from linear stability analyses.