Viscous fingering and dendritic growth under an elastic membrane

Abstract: We investigate the viscous fingering instability that arises when air is injected from the end of an oil-filled, compliant channel. We show that induced axial and transverse depth gradients foster novel pattern formation. Moreover, the steady propagation of the interface allows us to elucidate the nonlinear saturation of a fingering pattern first observed in a time-evolving system (Pihler-Puzovic et al. PRL 108, 074502, 2012): the wavelength is set by the viscous fingering mechanism, but the amplitude is inversely proportional to the tangent of the compliant wall's inclination angle.