New bounds for stabilizing Hele-Shaw flows (Q812708)

The authors provide an upper bound on the interfacial growth rate of instabilities in the presence of an intermediate layer. They then make use of this upper bound to provide lower bounds on the length of the intermediate layer and the amount of polymer required for supressing the Saffman-Taylor instabilities to a prescribed level. The authors also provide the corresponding viscosity of the polysolution at the leading front displacing the fluid as well as the bounds on the admissible viscosity profiles of the polysolution in the intermediate layer.