Special Session 128: New Trends in Mathematical Fluid Dynamics and Related Problems

Self-Similar Solutions to the Hele-Shaw Problem with Surface Tension
Neel Patel
University of Maine
USA
Co-Author(s):    Siddhant Agrawal
Abstract:
The Hele-Shaw problem models the dynamics of the interface of a single viscous fluid domain in porous media. While the dynamics around a corner on the fluid interface are known in the absence of surface tension, less is known with the presence of surface tension. We demonstrate the existence of self-similar solutions that initially have a corner, but instantaneously smoothen out. Due to surface tension, the differential equation describing the self-similar solution is a third order nonlocal equation of elliptic type with coefficients that grow at infinity, and thus, requires an interesting linear analysis.