Multiple bubbles and fingers in a Hele-Shaw channel: complete set of steady solutions

Abstract

Analytical solutions for both a finite assembly and a periodic array of bubbles steadily moving in a Hele-Shaw channel are presented. The particular case of multiple fingers penetrating into the channel and moving jointly with an assembly of bubbles is also analysed. The solutions are given by a conformal mapping from a multiply connected circular domain in an auxiliary complex plane to the fluid region exterior to the bubbles. In all cases the desired mapping is written explicitly in terms of certain special transcendental functions, known as the secondary Schottky–Klein prime functions. Taken together, the solutions reported here represent the complete set of solutions for steady bubbles and fingers in a horizontal Hele-Shaw channel when surface tension is neglected. All previous solutions under these assumptions are particular cases of the general solutions reported here. Other possible applications of the formalism described here are also discussed.