Matar, Omar K. and Troian, Sandra M. (1998) Growth of non-modal transient structures during the spreading of surfactant coated films. Physics of Fluids, 10 (5). pp. 1234-1236. ISSN 1070-6631. http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:MATpof98
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The spreading of surfactant coated thin liquid films is often accompanied by an instability producing significant film corrugation, fingering and branching. Marangoni stresses, responsible for the rapid and spontaneous spreading, are suspected as the main cause of unstable flow. Traditional eigenvalue analysis of a self-similar solution describing Marangoni driven spreading has predicted only stable modes. We present results of a transient growth study which reveals enormous amplification of initially infinitesimal disturbances in the film thickness. This analysis provides, for the first time, evidence of an instability resembling experimental patterns.
|Additional Information:||©1998 American Institute of Physics. (Received 21 January 1998; accepted 29 January 1998) S.M.T. gratefully acknowledges support from the National Science Foundation (RIA and CAREER programs), a seed grant from the Princeton Materials Institute, the Exxon Education Foundation and the Can Manufacturer’s Institute.|
|Subject Keywords:||liquid films; convection; surface tension; flow instability; wetting; eigenvalues and eigenfunctions|
|Usage Policy:||No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided.|
|Deposited By:||Archive Administrator|
|Deposited On:||15 Sep 2006|
|Last Modified:||26 Dec 2012 09:02|
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