We study the Saffman-Taylor or viscous fingering instability in yield stress fluids. The theory for yield stress fluids shows that the dispersion equation of the instability is similar to that for Newtonian fluids; however, the capillary number governing the instability now contains the yield stress. Experiments using gels and foams reveal very branched fingers in the gel. The results are in excellent agreement with theory for the gel, with, in addition, a crossover from yield stress dominated to viscous behavior. The results for foams are very different due to the existence of wall slip.

• Received 21 January 2000

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.314