Viscous fingering in a magnetic fluid. I. Radial Hele-Shaw flow

Viscous fingering phenomenon in a linear channel is studied for a magnetic fluid subjected to an external magnetic field. The competition between the hydrodynamic effects and the capillary effects leads to the formation of an interface between the air and the fluid which has a finger shape. It is the so-called Saffman–Taylor instability (STI). The influence of the magnetic effects depends on the direction of the applied field: it is possible either to enhance or to reduce the destabilizing phenomena. We study the onset of the STI and compare the experimental results with the linear analysis including the magnetic contribution. In the nonlinear regime, the measurement of the width of the finger as a function of the direction and the amplitude of the magnetic field is understood using a phenomenological approach.