Instability of two-layer creeping flow in a channel with parallel-sided walls

Abstract

The evolution of the interface between two viscous fluid layers in a two-dimensional horizontal channel confined between two parallel walls is considered in the limit of Stokes flow. The motion is generated either by the translation of the walls, in a shear-driven or plane-Couette mode, or by an axial pressure gradient, in a plane-Poiseuille mode. Linear stability analysis for infinitesimal perturbations and fluids with matched densities shows that when the viscosities of the fluids are different and the Reynolds number is sufficiently high, the flow is unstable. At vanishing Reynolds number, the flow is stable when the surface tension has a non-zero value, and neutrally stable when the surface tension vanishes. We investigate the behaviour of the interface subject to finite-amplitude two-dimensional perturbations by solving the equations of Stokes flow using a boundary-integral method. Integral equations for the interfacial velocity are formulated for the three modular cases of shear-driven, pressure-driven, and gravity-driven flow, and numerical computations are performed for the first two modes. The results show that disturbances of sufficiently large amplitude may cause permanent interfacial deformation in which the interface folds, develops elongated fingers, or supports slowly evolving travelling waves. Smaller amplitude disturbances decay, sometimes after a transient period of interfacial folding. The ratio of the viscosities of the two fluids plays an important role in determining the morphology of the emerging interfacial patterns, but the parabolicity of the unperturbed velocity profile does not affect the character of the motion. Increasing the contrast in the viscosities of the two fluids, while keeping the channel capillary number fixed, destabilizes the interfaces; re-examining the flow in terms of an alternative capillary number that is defined with respect to the velocity drop across the more-viscous layer shows that this is a reasonable behaviour. Comparing the numerical results with the predictions of a lubrication-flow model shows that, in the absence of inertia, the simplified approach can only describe a limited range of motions, and that the physical relevance of the steadily travelling waves predicted by long-wave theories must be accepted with a certain degree of reservation.