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Take $x$ in the injection direction and $y$ along the flat interface. The specified $U$ must be a Darcy velocity, so the pore-fluid velocity and unperturbed interface speed are $U/\varphi$. Write the perturbed interface as $x=X(t)+\eta (y,t)$, with $\dot{X}=U/\varphi$, and choose the normal from fluid 1 into fluid 2. The background pressure gradients from Darcy law are ${\partial }_x{p}_i^{(0)}=-{\mu }_{i}U/k$.

By incompressibility and uniform permeability of a porous medium, pressure perturbations are harmonic functions. A transverse Fourier mode with positive wavenumber $\alpha$ has the decaying formsThe kinematic boundary condition and equal normal Darcy flux implyWithout capillarity the pressure is continuous at the displaced interface. Its linear perturbation is thereforeConsequently the planar viscous-fingering dispersion relation reduces toThis is the Saffman–Taylor instability: less viscous fluid advances preferentially through protrusions. Without a short-wave regularizing mechanism the idealized rate has no finite maximum.

For the prescribed apparent capillary pressure, the chosen normal is $\mathbf{n}=(1,-{\eta }_y)/\sqrt{1+{\eta }_y^2}$, so $\nabla \cdot \mathbf{n}=-{\eta }_{yy}+O({\eta }^2)={\alpha }^2\eta +O({\eta }^2)$. Subtract the flat-front pressure jump $\gamma (1+\beta X){\kappa }_0$. Linearization of the jump at $x=X+\eta$ givesThere is no first-order product of the surface-tension perturbation and the perturbed macroscopic curvature. ThusUsing the capillary number convention $\mathrm{Ca}={\mu }_{2}U/\gamma$ and ${\mu }_2/({\mu }_1+{\mu }_2)=(1+M)/2$, this isIf $x$ is measured from the unperturbed front and $\gamma$ denotes its local apparent tension, set $X=0$ to obtain the usual fixed-coefficient expression. For a physically fixed spatial gradient, $X=Ut/\varphi$ and the displayed rate is an instantaneous, generally time-dependent growth rate; the amplitude solves $\dot{a}=\sigma (\alpha ;X(t))a$, rather than one constant exponential law for the entire displacement. The parameter $\beta$ has dimensions of inverse length; the absolute tension gradient is $\gamma \beta$.

Assume $1+\beta X>0$, as required for positive apparent surface tension, and define $A=({\mu }_2-{\mu }_1)U-k\gamma \beta {\kappa }_0$. If $A>0$, unstable modes satisfy $0<{\alpha }^2<A/[k\gamma (1+\beta X)]$. Differentiating the cubic dispersion relation gives the fastest-growing modeWhen $A\le 0$, every nonzero mode decays, with a neutral zero-wavenumber translation in the infinite-domain limit. For $\beta {\kappa }_0>0$, surface-tension-gradient stabilization of viscous fingering suppresses the instability entirely at positive injection speeds satisfyingIf $\beta {\kappa }_0\le 0$, no positive injection speed eliminates every long-wave unstable mode in an unbounded interface. The prescribed wetting variation is treated as an effective normal pressure law for porous-media flow.