FLUID INJECTION IN A POROUS MEDIUM: THE RADIAL SAFFMAN-TAYLOR INSTABILITY

We consider planar flow involving two viscous fluids in a porous medium. One fluid is injected through a line source at the origin and moves radially outwards, pushing the second, ambient fluid outwards. There is an interface between the two fluids and if the inner injected fluid is of lower viscosity, the interface is unstable to small disturbances and radially directed unstable Saffman-Taylor fingers are produced. A linearized theory is presented and is compared with nonlinear results obtained using a numerical spectral method. An additional theory is also discussed, in which the sharp interface is replaced with a narrow diffuse interfacial region. We show that the nonlinear results are in close agreement with the linearized theory for small-amplitude disturbances at early times, but that large-amplitude fingers develop at later times and can even detach completely from the initial injection region.