Suppression of complex fingerlike patterns at the interface between air and a viscous fluid by elastic membranes

Growth of complex dendritic fingers at the interface of air and a viscous fluid in the narrow gap between two parallel plates is an archetypical problem of pattern formation. We find a surprisingly effective means of suppressing this instability by replacing one of the plates with an elastic membrane. The resulting fluid-structure interaction fundamentally alters the interfacial patterns that develop and considerably delays the onset of fingering. We analyze the dependence of the instability on the parameters of the system and present scaling arguments to explain the experimentally observed behavior. © 2012 American Physical Society.