Rigorous Results in Steady Finger Selection in Viscous Fingering

This paper concerns the existence of a steadily translating finger solution in a Hele-Shaw cell for small but non-zero surface tension (ɛ²). Though there are numerous numerical and formal asymptotic results for this problem, we know of no mathematically rigorous results that address the selection problem. We rigorously conclude that for relative finger width λ in the range , with small, analytic symmetric finger solutions exist in the asymptotic limit of surface tension if and only if the Stokes constant for a relatively simple nonlinear differential equation is zero. This Stokes constant S depends on the parameter and earlier calculations by a number of authors have shown it to be zero for a discrete set of values of a. The methodology consists of proving the existence and uniqueness of analytic solutions for a weak half-strip problem for any λ in a compact subset of (0, 1). The weak problem is shown to be equivalent to the original finger problem in the function space considered, provided we invoke a symmetry condition. Next, we consider the behavior of the solution in a neighborhood of an appropriate complex turning point for the restricted case , for some . This turning point accounts for exponentially small terms in ɛ, as ɛ→0⁺ that generally violate the symmetry condition. We prove that the symmetry condition is satisfied for small ɛ when the parameter a is constrained appropriately. (Accepted July 4, 2002 Published online January 15, 2003) Communicated by F. OTTO